An Adventurer
by gengarfamily
Summary: Water and earth. Sea and land. Legends and logic. Everything is defined by what they are not, and so they define themselves through each other. Faraway/Outcryshipping; May and Paul.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Black and Blue**

* * *

Sometimes, May thought about a trainer who had come and challenged her father a year before she left on her own journey. She could never forget his name, and he had lilac hair and a hard, angry line to his brow, and he had a Pokemon she'd never seen in Hoenn before that looked really funny. It was green and had a shell and four tiny legs, and a leaf sticking out from the top of his head. Max had smugly told her it was a Turtwig, and that must have meant this was a trainer from Sinnoh. But this trainer had told her father in passing conversation (she liked to eavesdrop on interesting people sometimes, purely out of innocent curiosity) that it was his first year of training. Most trainers traveled their local regions first before going further afield. How odd that he would choose to go so far away from home.

She decided he must have been an adventurer.

She liked him already.

Not one for watching her father's gym battles, Norman had been surprised when May had dropped herself into the stands to watch their battle. Smiling obliviously across at him, pleased for the attention, May wove her legs together and leant forward on her wrists, observing her father as he took care of the gym formalities. They'd always felt dreadfully dull, but she found herself a little intrigued today. The boy her father was explaining the format of their battle to was just so focused, and had his eyes so determinedly trained upon him as he spoke. It was strangely entrancing to watch his intense stare. It wasn't long until Max appeared next to her, tugging on her hair by means of greeting. Scowling, May swatted at her younger brother in a vague frustration. At seven years old, Max was proving to grow more of a nuisance every day. He flashed his glasses up at her, grinning curiously as she scowled. Kenny, her father's assistant, had begun to confirm both battler's confidence in the rules of the gym, and Norman and the challenger took their places opposite each other on the battlefield, an electric tension buzzing between them.

"Dad won't lose," Max predicted smugly, folding his arms and settling into himself. "Dad never loses to first timers without a few attempts. He's too smart for some greenhorn and his greenhorn to slip under him like that." His voice was high and a little shrill with his youth, and even though she was only two years older than him, May still found him nauseating. Especially in his arrogance.

"Don't be so cocky," May told him quickly. "Being full-a yourself never helped anybody. And besides, Daddy has lost plenty of times before."

"Full of," Max corrected, snickering. "You know, nobody will ever take you seriously if you don't speak properly. That's what Dad always says." The battle was beginning, and the challenger had sent out his Turtwig that Max had identified earlier. It was small, and seemed relatively meek when facing up against the enormity of Norman's Slaking. Pursing her lips, May leant further forward.

"No one will talk to you at all if you keep being a bore," May said wearily back, tired of her brother's antics. "Anyway, shush. I wanna watch." The challenger seemed unperturbed by his apparent disadvantage; for a moment, May wondered if he might even just be motivated by it. Orders were thrown out from each side, and the battle began in a sudden spark of action. Slaking dragged his meaty fists forward, slamming on his chest for a moment before lurching towards the little Turtwig. Anticipating the move, Turtwig scurried away, darting between the larger Pokemon's legs and skidding across the gravelly gym floor, creating a small cloud of dust as he did.

"It's quick!" Max paused, a little taken back. He readjusted his new glasses, blinking owlishly behind them. "I wouldn't expect that from a Pokemon with such stunted legs."

"Well, what's Momma always say?" May suppressed a smug grin, pleased her brother was being disproved. "You can't judge a book by it's cover, ya know?"

"You can make deductions from physical evidence, May," Max replied disparagingly, sounding snooty and older than his years. "If a Pokemon has short legs you can presume it's speed will be affected. If a Pokemon has no arms, you can presume it won't know a move like Focus Punch. Just like if you see a man wearing sunglasses and holding a cane, you can presume some issues with his sight. Identifying things like this is key to being a skilled Pokemon trainer."

"What would you know, squirt?" May sulked audibly. "You ain't gotta Pokemon. You just read a lot." The Turtwig began to fire off somewhat lacking, but enthusiastic torrents of leaves towards Slaking, cutting into his flesh a little and making him grunt in a mild pain. It seemed more of an annoyance than a real issue. Norman shook his head, disappointed.

"Well, there are so many varieties of Pokemon it's hard to have comprehensive information on _all_ species, like their strengths and weaknesses, and even their names," Max continued, pushing his glasses further up his nose in a manner that made May want to break them. "There are a bunch of species they say we don't even know about yet. Trainers need to be able to assess a battle situation, even in a situation where they're unfamiliar with the Pokemon they're facing." He gave her a sidelong glance, bearing his teeth in a self congratulatory snicker. "You'd know that if you paid attention when Dad told you stuff." The challenger was growing frustrated. He ordered another attack. It was combinations of words May was unfamiliar with, in a Sinnoian accent that was a strain to interpret from a distance, so she was a little baffled at the green orbs that began to soar towards Slaking forcefully.

"I listen to everything Daddy says to me!" May felt her cheeks get hot, frustrated at the implication. "I just… don't find any of this all that interesting. It's all so technical and time eating, and _so_ dull." Swallowing, May let her hands find her chin, cupping it as she balanced her elbows upon her knees. "Anyway, squirt, I don't care what you gotta say about Pokemon or battling or any of that stuff. I'm not going on a Pokemon journey anyhow, and if I wanted to know somethin' I'd ask Daddy."

"I still can't believe you don't want to go," Max said sullenly, folding his feet underneath himself. Slaking powered up a Focus Punch that hit Turtwig square in the cheek, throwing him across the room and crashing him into the wall solidly. As the newly formed dust cloud began to clear, it was obvious that Turtwig was down for the count. The challenger wasn't pleased. May watched with interest as his lip twitched, irritated, and he recalled the Pokemon completely dispassionately. He almost seemed disinterested in his Pokemon's pain. It baffled her. In all her time watching her father and mother interact with Pokemon, it had been with the utmost care and adoration. "I mean, why wouldn't you want to explore the world and train Pokemon?"

"I want to see the world," May said quickly, protesting with a sharp glare. "I just don't want to drag Pokemon along with me. So I'll just go when I'm older and don't need them to protect me and stuff. Momma said that if that's what I really wanted she'd be okay with it." The next Pokemon was called out quickly. It was a small, grey pebble in a big battle field, and Max sat up, interested.

"An Aron!" Suddenly, Max was less disappointed. "They have super good defense, and normal type moves won't be as tough. He might have a shot, with this one!"

"I have no idea what you mean." Snorting, May raised an eyebrow. "But it's way less cute than the last one. What's the point?" Norman wasted no time in getting back into the swing of the battle, throwing another Focus Punch that slammed the small steel type into the gym floor, leaving an impression in the gravel when Aron eventually tottered away.

"Stupid." Max shook his head, sighing. "I don't understand you." May gave him a dark look, feeling her cheeks heat up again. Her little brother had never respected her, really. It wasn't fair in May's eyes. Not sharing his interest in Pokemon was in no way related to her intelligence or right to be respected as an older sibling. At least, it made no sense to her. Everyone else seemed to look down on her point of view as well. Was it so wrong to simply have different motivations in life than collecting creatures that could only parrot their names back at you? She couldn't see how they could really connect, anyway. There was no communication or common ground to be shared with a Pokemon. They just existed. But they were all anyone talked about; especially to the Gym Leader's children.

"Well, I never asked you to." May's voice had taken on that haughty tone that told Max he'd pushed his limits a little far, and he went quiet, focusing on the match instead. Aron was taking hit after hit, getting in weak attacks during Slaking's restful periods, but never making an impact on the larger Pokemon that gave Norman a moment of panic. The challenger was getting more and more riled, his commands garbled with his own fury as he demanded for his Pokemon to be stronger, hit harder and move faster. There were limits to willpower, May noticed blankly.

Aron was soon knocked out.

With only one Pokemon left, the trainer seemed to stop for a moment, looking away in a mild repulsion as he recalled the Aron that had failed him thus far. He didn't hesitate in throwing out his third Pokeball, revealing a small yellow fighting type with a little knot on the top of his head.

"A Makuhita!" Max's narration was grating, but reluctantly May admitted it was informative. "A fighting type. He should have the advantage, but it's so little and weak compared to Slaking."

"I guess strategy and knowing lots doesn't always mean more than experience." May tilted her head slightly, observing. "I wonder what he'll do."

"What do you mean?" Max quirked an eyebrow at his sister quizzically. More orders were blurted out hastily, and the Makuhita lunged forward, his fist outstretched.

"Well, look at the challenger." May pointed to him subtly, gesturing with her fingers from her lap. Max looked up, watching him. His feet were planted firmly apart, and his face was completely blank and expressionless. There was a hard sheen in his eyes that made Max hesitate before responding. "See? He's not worried. He's only got one Pokemon nexta all three of Daddy's, right? And it's still a small one. So shouldn't he be panicking?" Slaking easily deflected the small fighting type, but it didn't stop there, and soon Makuhita was flying back towards him, making full use of the lazy ability Slaking was cursed with and clocked him square in the nose. Norman winced.

"I guess." Max leant forward, a little less subtle. "I dunno, May. Maybe he just doesn't care very much?" There was a ruthlessness to his commands, but that idea didn't sit right with May. It felt more likely that he was the kind that cared too much.

"It's _doesn't_ , not dunno." May felt a smug swell in her chest as she corrected him, and Max scowled. "I don't think so. I mean, you gotta be pretty confident to travel so far from home, right? He's probably super frustrated on the inside but he doesn't wanna show it. I wonder why?" Slaking was stunned, but didn't take long to fling himself forward again. The significantly overleveled Pokemon dropped himself onto Makuhita with a huge belly flop of a body slam, crushing him with the immense weight of a fully evolved Pokemon. The challenger had the decency to wince, and once Slaking rolled away and Kenny announced he was unable to battle, he recalled the Pokemon without complaint.

"Dad won!" Max cheered, bubbling up joyfully. His father was his hero, and he relished in seeing him succeed over strangers. May smiled and hummed with him, equally loyal to her father. However, there was a tone of distraction in her voice as she watched the challenger's reaction. His body language shifted from aggressive to defensive, with arms jutting forward as they folded over his chest, and leaning back slightly on one shoulder to stop from having to face Norman fully after his embarrassing defeat.

A few words were exchanged between them: Gym Leader to Challenger. It didn't take long for him to leave, shoving his hands into his pockets and his hair falling slightly over his face. As May watched him, her curiosity growing, she felt her breath leave with him.

What a fascinating person.

* * *

Caroline stirred the pot in front of her noncommittally, not totally focused on the soup in front of her as she twirled the spoon around the pan. Both May and Max were home from school for the weekend, and usually that meant company. Max would linger in the gym and observe his father training, and May would often float about the house with her, sometimes helping with chores but more often chatting aimlessly at her while she did them. But today, it had been quiet. May sometimes went out with friends, or stayed in her room and played some indescribably bland pop music far too loudly, but it was strange to think she was choosing to spend her day in the gym with Max. It was uncharacteristic.

She couldn't help but feel a twinge of hope.

"Hey Mom!" Max was the first in, his voice full of excitement and giddy glee as he bounded in. He often tried to shed his childhood so quickly, it was always good to see him bubble with youth after a day in the gym. "Dad to-o-otally creamed this kid from Sinnoh! Of course, if _I_ had been battling him…" His tone became a little snide and high again. "It would have been just as good!"

"Max is being a pain again Momma." May's complaints fell on deaf ears as she dragged herself after him, visibly weary. Melodramatically, she flung herself into a chair, her hand pressed to her forehead and her back arched mockingly. "Need… sustenance… in order… to cope… with lame-o brother…"

"May, be nice." Caroline chastised her gently, but bit her lip to hide a laugh. "Is Kenny staying for lunch today?"

"No, he said he had a date or something." May waggled her eyebrows mischievously. "How romantic! I can't wait till I'm old enough to go on romantic dates and meet someone…" Her tone shifted, becoming a little dreamy. "Jetting about together, all glamorous and stylish… just like in the big films."

"Ew, who would ever want to go out with you?" Max snorted, prodding her shoulder, and May flared pink, shoving him away from her with a scowl and a whine.

"Mo-om!"

"Max, be nice." Caroline shook her head, slowly feeling what energy she had drain away. "Why don't the two of you get dishes out for lunch, and set the table? If you can manage that without arguing…" She paused, chuckling. "Maybe Rayquaza _does_ exist." At the mention of the legendary Pokemon, Max suddenly brightened. He rushed to his mother's side, clinging to her as she cooked, whining in a low, needy voice that could only come from a young boy. Pausing to ruffle his hair, she smiled.

"Can you tell us the story again Mom?" He asked pleadingly. May seemed far less interested, storming around in the cupboard to try and find the things she needed for the table. Thoughtfully, Caroling tapped her son's nose with her index finger.

"Not now, sweetpea," she said gently. "Perhaps your Dad might be convinced this evening before bed. He tells it better than me! But only if you help your sister now, hm?" Max's eyes grew wide - clearly, he was in agreement - and he nodded eagerly at the prospect, grinning stupidly as he rushed to help prepare for lunch by grabbing the appropriate cutlery from the cupboard to her right.

Once lunch was ready, Max zipped out of the kitchen to retrieve his father from the gym, where he was undoubtedly tending to his Pokemon after training. May lay glasses out on the table while her mother sliced bread, and filled a jug with tap water to place in the center of the table. Her mother hated not having something to drink alongside a meal, and it had rubbed off on her children, although Norman never seemed to do the same. For a moment, she watched the water ripple inside the jug, thinking to herself.

"Momma?" May asked suddenly, although she hadn't quite felt ready to voice it yet. Caroline turned to her, humming her acknowledgement, and May felt her mouth go a little dry. "How come…"

"Whatever it is you've made," Norman said brightly, grinning as he swept through the room, kissing his wife's cheek and taking a place at the table. "It smells phenomenal." May shut her mouth tightly, not looking up from the jug of water, but took her seat silently, leaving space on either side of her for her mother and brother. Sitting next to her father always ended awkwardly for her.

"It's just soup." Caroline chuckled, shaking her head at her husband. Max hadn't been far behind, and had thrown himself into the seat next to his father. He was full of exuberance and enthusiasm as he recounted the battle against the trainer from Sinnoh, and how easily Slaking had dismantled his entire team. May didn't comment, instead waiting for her mother to take her seat and pass out the bread before quietly taking to her meal.

"And then I thought for a moment because Makuhita was a fighting type you might have a problem," Max explained hastily. "But then May said something like experience was more important, and she was right! You were so great, Dad, he didn't have a chance!"

"May, you said that?" Norman looked across at his daughter with a slight curve in his lips. There was something to his voice that May didn't like. It was like a cross between bewilderment, confusion and hope. He had no reason for any of that.

"I said something like that, I guess." May tore some of her bread with her teeth, not looking at him. Norman's eyes bore into her, steely and firm.

"I was surprised to see you watching the battle today, May." His eyes weren't going to drop from her any time soon, and May shifted uncomfortably. "You seemed rather taken by the whole thing."

"She was saying stuff too!" Max burst in, eager to bring his sister into his interest in Pokemon. "She was telling me to look at the challenger's body language and stuff, and she was really into it!"

"I wasn't _into_ it." May's protests came out a little weak. "I was just bored this morning. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It was a good battle, Daddy. Well done."

"Hmmm." Norman's smug hums were grating, and she felt herself shrink in her seat. "Would you like to help me with training the Pokemon this afternoon? I can show you some basic techniques."

"Why would I want to do that?" May snorted, unimpressed. "I'm not going on a journey, remember?"

"Of course." Norman retreated a little, disappointed. "I just thought you might want to understand a little more about the battle mechanics you encountered this morning."

"No thanks," May said haughtily. Caroline and Norman exchanged a long, defeated glance. Max blinked a little, staring at his sister.

"Why'd you watch the match this morning?" Pressing wasn't going to do Max any good, May decided, and she took a big gulp of soup while she considered her answer.

"I was curious," May said lightly. "About the boy who chose to travel so far away from home."

"Ah." Norman's face changed. "Paul. He was an interesting character. I can see why you were curious. He's very withdrawn. There are a lot of good ideas in his battle style, and he has some Pokemon with a lot of potential. Time will help him; he needs a lot of time to train and grow with his team. Although…"

"Although?" May's ears pricked up. People watching was one of her favourite hobbies, and this Paul person had been an enigma to her. Nothing about him was easy to figure out; it baffled her.

"He seemed very angry." Norman shrugged, taking a spoonful of soup into his mouth. "I'm not sure. I'll let you know when he returns, if you want to watch his rematch later." His voice had a little upturn of hope at the end, watching his daughter's reaction closely. May shuffled awkwardly, nodding.

"Okay." Draining her water, May hid a smile behind the glass. "He's coming back?"

"All trainers who lose come back at least a couple of times." Norman blinked, his mouth curving into a smile. "I don't think he's the type to give up easy."

"Alright then." A little brighter, May stood up, finished with her meal. "Momma, may I be excused?"

"You may." Caroline wrinkled her nose in a smile, and May tucked her chair back into place, scurrying out of the room. It was the most she and her father had interacted in weeks - maybe months. There was only so much she could let herself hope for. As she scuttled off, she could hear Max beginning to plead with their father to tell them the story again tonight, but he stiffly told him no, and that was all that was left of that topic.

* * *

School was over for the day. It wasn't something May particularly enjoyed, and one of the things she was a little disappointed over was that deciding not to travel meant she couldn't simply enroll in the online trainer school to keep up with her studies, and instead would have to continue to attend school after her tenth birthday. That was a small price to pay, though, she kept telling herself. It was something she was quite resolved on. Petalburg was pretty in the spring, and the temperate nature of Hoenn meant she rarely needed a coat. Sometimes she waited for Max after school so they could walk home together, but he had an afterschool club in something desperately nerdy like super advanced maths, so today she was left to potter through the streets by herself, swinging her bookbag by her knees. It was a pleasant route home; it skimmed along the outskirts of the city and close by to the wooded area that was near the shore. Being so close to the sea always left a fresh, salty taste to Petalburg air. May found it soothing and exhilarating all at once.

Her usual path was a little shadowed by some of the cedar trees that began to lead into Petalburg Woods to the north. The light dappled prettily through the high branches, and May turned it into a little game. Hop from one spot of shadow to another. Keep out of the light. Keep safe in the dark. Somewhere along the way, she began to frown.

Breaking through her thoughts, a loud yell caught her attention and a sudden cyclone of greenery burst out in front of her, inches from missing her face and forcing her to stagger backwards with the sheer force of wind it sent at her. There was an involuntary gasp and a stumble, and somehow she found herself nursing her sore coccyx as she tried to scramble to her feet. There was no way such a concentrated gust of wind like that would happen naturally, carrying such pointed and deliberate foliage. Glaring in the general direction they came from, she knew someone in there had a pokemon they were training, and they weren't being particularly considerate of passersby pedestrians who maybe did not wish for their walk to be hindered by a random grass type attack. Maybe there might even be passersby pedestrians who didn't particularly like Pokemon who would be affected.

It was for selfish reasons that she'd hitched her skirt back into place and begun to storm her way through the trees, searching out the culprit.

It hadn't taken long to track him down. Recognising his lilac hair and blue jacket instantly, May paused, wondering for a second as he worked with his Turtwig. She'd thought as much. They were practicing a move that he kept calling Leaf Storm and it would fire in different directions, not always entirely under their control. They were aiming at a particularly girthy tree in the middle of the clearing they worked in, and the boy's face kept screwing up tightly every time it didn't go the way he wanted it to. His back was to her, and he hadn't bothered to turn at the sound of the crunching leaves and splitting branches from her clumsy entrance.

Paul. Her father had said his name was Paul.

"Hey!" May felt a surge of bravery, wincing her way through the last of the greenery as it caught on her bare legs. She'd never been one for practical clothing. "You knocked me over with that silly grass attack of yours!" Paul twisted, not moving his feet from where they pointed towards his Pokemon, but allowing himself to lean back and see who had interrupted his training.

"Oh." He didn't seem too perturbed. "I'll keep that in mind." He didn't say anything more, but turned back to face his Turtwig and ordered another attack. This time it hit the target, and took a layer of the tree bark with it. Paul hummed, a little more pleased.

"You'll keep that in mind?" May huffed, her hands finding her hips crossly. "Well ex-cuuuse me, Paul, but I think you owe me an apology!"

"How do you know my name?" Paul didn't face her as he spoke, but he paused from his training for a moment to tolerate her presence.

"Huh?" May blinked. "You don't recognise me? I watched your battle with my Dad just a couple of days ago. I'm Norman's daughter." Paul's shoulders lifted for a moment. He rolled them back, like he was trying to work out a knot in his neck while he thought about his response. May waited, quiet.

"Nah." He shrugged. "Don't remember. Turtwig, try that Leaf Storm again." May's mouth fell agape as Turtwig followed his command, twisting and jumping slightly as he sent off another flurry of verdant specs towards the tree. It hit the mark again.

"Well you don't have to be rude to me!" May's voice took on that sulky, haughty tone she usually reserved for Max. "Are you gonna apologise or what?"

"Hn." Paul finally turned around, as if accepting the fact she was a problem that wouldn't go away on it's own. "I'm sorry." He didn't sound it. "Will you leave now?"

"No." May shuffled from one foot to another, unable to find a reason why she should stay. "I'm going to observe your training."

"And why do you think I'll let you do that?" Paul arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. His lips were pulled tight and thin. Now that he'd designated himself to facing her, she could see the pale, chalkiness of his skin, and the almost bruised look to the bags under his eyes. He was exhausted.

"Because I'm the Gym Leader's kid." Her answer had come from some deep hidden quick wit that she didn't know she possessed. "And I know all about my Dad's battle strategy. And… um…" Pausing, she clasped her hands behind her back, rolling onto the tips of her toes, trying to think of what the clever heroines in her favorite films would say to impress him. "I'd be… invaluable to your training to beat him." Paul watched her face for a moment, searching for something May didn't anticipate him finding. A twitch of the lip. An involuntary blink. A breath that was too loud or too fast.

"You're lying." Paul didn't waste any more time. "I don't have time to waste on someone who doesn't know what they're talking about."

"I do!" May's protests didn't even fool her. "Why don't you want my help?"

"I don't need help." Paul rolled his eyes, his arms folding over firmly. "Don't you have better things to do than bug me?" May scowled. She decided maybe she didn't like him so much anymore.

"Everyone needs help sometimes." May parrotted her words in a flush, feeling a little petulant. "My Momma said that. And you should never be scared of asking for help!"

"Listen… kid." Paul couldn't find a better word to put to her for the time being. "I don't need anybody's help; I just need to get stronger. I don't waste my time with weaklings. With weaklings like _you_." He snorted derisively as May's face turned purple with frustration, and she stomped on the ground childishly, jittery with fury.

"You're so mean!" Her voice was becoming shrill. "Why do you think it's so mean to ask for help? I ask my family for help all the time! That doesn't make me weak!"

"I don't care about what you have to say," Paul said cooly. "You should really get back to being coddled by Daddy and not contributing anything of worth to the world. People like you get through life relying only on their families; it's weak. It's pathetic."

"Excuse me?" May swallowed, feeling her stomach tighten. "My Daddy does _not_ coddle me. And - and family isn't weak, family is super special! I mean, I'm totally always mad at my family; my little brother is a huge pain and my Mom is totally overbearing and I…" she paused, pursing her lips. Suddenly, she felt a little more sympathetic. "I guess Daddy doesn't talk to me very much. But even so, he would always help me if I needed it! Because family matters and if you don't care about your family then you're stupid."

"You said you were Norman's daughter." It was a statement, not a question. May nodded, thrown off by his sudden interest in her. When she confirmed, he nodded back, feeling justified. "Exactly, he's strong." Paul suddenly didn't seem so harsh in his words. It almost seemed as though he just really wanted her to understand his point of view. "He doesn't spend time with you because he understands that his time should be spent getting stronger. And training to defeat him is a way for me to get stronger."

"Why are you so obsessed with being strong?" May folded her arms, still sullen. "Honestly. Pokemon are weird anyway. It's so dumb."

"You wouldn't understand, you're just a silly girl." Paul turned away again suddenly, frowning deeply. There was a disappointed sigh mixed in somewhere in his words. "I would have thought a Gym Leader's kid would have a better head on her shoulders, but you're the most clueless person I've ever met. No wonder your dad is too busy for you."

"You're wrong. People like you… you're the weak ones!" May's face crumbled a little, wounded by his words. He didn't seem too pleased by hers either. "I'm not clueless. You'll see. And he'll see that too. You're just…" she blinked quickly, feeling a couple of tears group up in the corners of her eyes. "You're both wrong!" Turning on her heel, she marched away, stomping through the bushes and flattening greenery in her path.

* * *

Max asked about the story again that night. May tried not to listen as her father told him that it wasn't the night, and that he was too tired. It was the same cycle that came up every now and again. Sometimes, Caroline would just tell it and get it over with, but Max would always be a little disappointed. Sometimes, she'd bully Norman into sitting down with the two children and giving them half an hour of his time, but he would always be a little reluctant and it didn't go unnoticed by Max nor May. As annoying as May found her little brother, she hated seeing the effect their father had on her beginning to transfer to him. Max idolised their father. It wasn't fair.

So late that night, she snuck into his room, with a box of cookies she'd swiped from downstairs, two glasses of milk, and an old fashioned torch with slowly dying batteries.

"Mom?" May was almost offended that Max's first assumption had gone to their mother. "May?"

"Pipe down, dweeb, you'll get us caught" May whispered hurriedly. She shook the bag of cookies lightly to let him know they were in for a midnight treat. "Now shh!"

"What are you doing?" Max's voice was bleary with sleep, but when she sat the milk down on his bedside table and the cookies in his lap, he was much less likely to complain. The room was dark, but it was a clear night and Max always forgot to close his curtains, so there was a thin, silvery light that let May find her way around.

"I'm gonna tell you a story." May cracked a smile, shining the torch into her face as she settled herself cross legged at the bottom of the bed. "A story of three ancient beings. Of the sea, and of the land, and of the sky." Max immediately froze in place, his face splitting into a grin. Suddenly, he jerked back to life, squirming around to sit himself upright and settle himself opposite her, listening intently. May waited for him to get comfortable before she began. "Hoenn was founded by three nations uniting. The Draconids, the People of the Water, and the Tribe of Terramin. Once, there was war between the People of the Water and the Tribe of Terramin; this is the story of how the Draconids brought them peace."

* * *

May hadn't been home from school for five seconds before she and Max were sprinting for the gym together. It had been weeks since she'd seen him. Maybe a little more than a month. Sometimes when she'd walked home from school, she'd listened hard at that little point on the path to hear if he was still training there, but eventually she figured he must have moved elsewhere. It had been something she'd tried not to think about, but every night when she closed her eyes, all she could see was lilac hair and cold steely eyes, reminding her fiercely that she was never going to be good enough for her father.

But here he was again, in person. Maybe she could get the chance to prove him wrong.

They got there just in time to see the end of the battle. Both trainers were both down to their last pokemon, and Norman was looking tense as he ordered Vigoroth to strike. Paul had Turtwig dodge as best he could, but even though the little grass type was fast for his species, he couldn't outrun a Vigoroth. The little Turtwig was knocked back - hard - and Paul held his breath for a moment.

Everything flipped on it's head.

Turtwig glowed an ethereal white, a low hum taking over his body as he began to morph. Max, though out of breath from running, grabbed May's hand as his glasses began to fog.

"Turtwig is evolving!" His announcement didn't go unnoticed, and Paul turned for just a second to see the two late audience members, with pink flushed cheeks and wide, awed eyes. May held his gaze for just a second before exhaling, and he turned back to his Pokemon without a hint of surprise or emotion in his face. Norman hardened. Grotle looked a lot stronger than Turtwig had.

It didn't take much longer for Paul to take hold of the momentum of battle and throw it against Norman.

Norman was never one to get upset at a loss (although Max did not take it well), and was pleased to present Paul with a badge which May overheard happened to be his third. He planned to move on to Mauville next, apparently. Paul tucked the badge into an inside pocket of his jacket, shook Norman's hand politely and respectfully, and began to make his way out of the gym. Unfortunately, this meant walking past May. She stood in wait, leaning her weight onto one side and bending the knee on the other, her arms folded sternly as she prepared herself to scold him for being so rude to her. The whole conversation had been practiced in her head, over and over and over. He would listen to her, and he would respect her.

But in actuality, he walked straight past her without even glancing her way.

Immediately, she seethed, storming after the Sinnoh boy. "Hey, Paul, wait up!" She chased him out of the gym, expecting him to stop and wait when she called, but he just kept walking. Out through the wooden doors, onto the stairway leading away from the gym, back into the city. Her cheeks burnt red, offended. "Stop!" Finally she caught up to him, and reached out to grab his sleeve, forcing him to look back at her. When he did, it was with a resigned, bored glare. "I was tryna talk to you!"

"I was trying to leave." His reply was blunt and indifferent. "What do you want now?" Her face puffed up again, and she hadn't let go of his sleeve.

"Why do you wanna be strong?" May asked, forcefully. "What's the big deal?"

"Why would I waste my breath?" Paul scoffed openly, tugging his arm out of her grasp. "There's no point explaining anything to you. You wouldn't have the mental capacity to process it."

"You're being rude again!" She flung her words at him furiously. "You know what? I'm gonna leave on my journey, too, soon. And I'm gonna pick up a Pokemon, and I'm gonna travel all over the world and see everything there is to see and learn everything there is to learn." Black eyes met blue, and she found herself stomping her foot again. This time, it didn't seem as childish. "And you're gonna hear about me one day, and you're gonna stop and realise I'm not so clueless after all!" She hissed through her teeth, her eyes narrowed. "You, and Dad. You'll respect me, you can count on it!" He looked at her for a moment, almost seeming intrigued for a moment, before lifting his hand and pointing at her, lazily. His finger brushed one of the frills of her blouse. Flushing, she edged back. If she was going to follow through, she'd need to buy some more practical clothing.

"That is why I want to become stronger." His voice came across almost loftily, and May closed her eyes for a moment, a wave of realisation tingling through her. It was so obvious. Suddenly, he made all the sense in the world to her. Paul from Sinnoh was no mystery after all; he was just like her. He didn't say anything else to her, instead choosing to just turned around and walked away. He almost jogged down the rest of the stairs and then headed out into the distance with powerful, purposeful strides. May watched him leave, fascinated all over again, as his retreating figure became lost in the spring skyline of Petalburg, dusted with cherry blossom and new life and everything that seemed so opposite to who he was, and yet so appropriate for what they both wanted to achieve. She sucked her lip up into her mouth.

"Dad!" It was time for her to grow up. She flew back into the gym, filled with a sense of purpose. "I've changed my mind. I want to go on a journey after all."


	2. Growing Up: Thirteen and Fourteen

**Growing Up; Thirteen and Fourteen**

* * *

Snowpoint City

* * *

When May finally tugged her hands free from her thick woolen gloves, each finger was raw from the cold. They were numb, stiff and red, and it was difficult to bend them. Sighing, she clenched her hands into fists before flexing them out again, hoping it would help the circulation. Her journey had taken too long.

The Pokemon Center lobby was as bright and cheerful as it was in every other city, regardless of how less populated this one was. The fluorescent lights burnt her eyes a little after spending so long out in the cloudy snowstorm outside. A permanent blizzard left the sky pretty overcast, so the routes to the south of Snowpoint City were rather dreary in terms of sunlight. Her first priority upon getting to the city had been to deposit her Pokemon with Nurse Joy and have them checked over. She needed to make sure that they were doing okay after such a prolonged exposure to such awful conditions. It had been two days camping out in the horrible snow and slush, and wading through powdery fields of white to find the little cavern she was looking for hadn't been a gentle experience. Glaceon was worth it, she knew, but that knowledge didn't bring warmth back into her limbs just yet. She didn't feel quite brave enough to remove the thick layers of winter clothing she was bundled in; no matter how good the indoor heating was, it felt counter productive to take away anything that might keep her warm. So she remained huddled inside her thick pink coat, the fluff around the collar damp from melted snow, her teeth quaking inside of her mouth as her body shivered to try and raise it's own temperature. The sooner she could collect her Pokemon, and sink into a hot bath, the better. There was a quiet crackle, followed by a clearing of throats over the tannoy, and May looked up expectantly.

"If May Maple could come to the front desk, her Pokemon are ready to be collected." It was a little fuzzy from static, but May felt a rush of relief. The less time spent waiting, the better health her partners had been in. Nurse Joy had been pleasant and polite at the desk, and spent a few minutes small-talking with her about the lushious healthy coat of her newly evolved Glaceon, and the incredible power in her Blaziken's legs. Her ferry down to Lake Valor wasn't till the day after tomorrow - she had underestimated how long it would take to track down Eevee's evolution spot - so she asked Nurse Joy for any recommendations of things to do around Snowpoint. There wasn't much, apparently, without being a local or preparing to challenge the gym. However, Nurse Joy told her about bits and pieces. There was another lake like the one she planned to visit for the contest, and there was a temple to the north of the town. Both of these places were full of rich history and lore, linking with legendary pokemon dating back millennia, and that was enough to catch May's interest. They were definitely places she'd check out in the next few days.

For the moment though, her desires were fairly singular. Nurse Joy had kept a room waiting for her return, so once she had settled herself back in, she quickly began to run a bath as searingly hot as her skin could handle. She let Blaziken out of his pokeball for company. Since she'd begun to travel on her own, she'd found herself craving her Pokemon's companionship more than she'd ever done before. A part of her felt a little silly for her views when she had been younger. There was a vague memory of thinking the bond someone could have with a Pokemon would be restricted by communication barriers and language blocks, but she had found the most steadfast of friends in all of her Pokemon. There was a range of characters and personalities and quirks between them all, just like there was with her human friends. There was something in the warmth in Blaziken's eyes, and the silliness to Beautifly's trills, and the calm of Venusaur's presence; they were so sentient and so personable to her now.

"It's so good to be back in the warm!" May was near laughter as she shed her coat at last, the steam rising from the bath beginning to fog the ensuite mirror. Blaziken was crashed out in the bedroom, huffing in agreement. He stayed in the other room for her privacy, but May left the door open. "If we'd been out there much longer I swear I would have lost a limb, or something." Blaziken gave another huff, but with more voice and more amusement. Pulling her shirt over her head, May chuckled, smiling to herself.

It was strange to think so much had changed in the past three years. She'd turned ten without much fanfare; May presumed her parents were nervous of scaring her out of her changed mind by making a big deal about her leaving. She left it a few months before actually leaving to start her journey. There was so much to catch up on - paperwork for online trainer school, Birch ensuring the Pokemon were ready for her, getting the essentials ready for the journey itself - that she couldn't leave on her tenth birthday as so many did. But Caroline had gone shopping with her to find practical, functional travel clothes, and Norman had tried to teach her some basic training skills in his spare time, and Max had pouted enviously whenever the subject came up. Eventually, her father gifted her with a cherry red bicycle the night before she was due to leave, and her mother went over the map to Littleroot Town with her for the hundredth time. And now she'd missed her thirteenth birthday, lost amidst a blizzard to fulfill a whim of one of her Pokemon. She couldn't have imagined doing something so reckless and dangerous for a Pokemon all those years ago, but then here she was. Glaceon sure seemed happy.

The bathwater was burning her skin pink. She'd left the water clear so she could dunk her hair under without getting it full of the wrong kind of soap, and then when she surfaced she did her best to wash out the grease of a few days travel. Taking a small bar of soap, she scrubbed herself down as best she could; from between each toe to the small of her back, she made sure any stray specks of dirt had been eradicated. Pokemon Center facilities weren't always readily available when travelling so she always made sure to make the best of them when they were. She'd have to do some laundry while she was there, too. It was strange, travelling on her own now, because things like that had always been taken care of by Brock. When they arrived at a Center, they'd just all get into their nightclothes out of habit and hand everything over to Brock and the next day they would reappear, fresh, dry and folded at the foot of their beds. But now she had to tackle washing machines and hope she got the measurements right by herself. It was something that could wait until tomorrow, she decided, and submerged herself in the water again.

It was exciting, knowing she'd see them soon. It had been so long. Ash was the big brother she'd never really had, and he'd taught her what it meant to be passionate about Pokemon. It was hard to deny there was a bond between human and pokemon when Ash fell asleep at his Pikachu's bedside. Brock had been a parent away from home, tolerating her materialistic impulses, supporting her when she was low and keeping her fed and cared for. It was exciting to meet their new friend, too. She'd heard only good things about Dawn from Twinleaf Town, and female friends were a rarity sometimes.

"We should get them gifts." May was thinking aloud, but she knew Blaziken was listening. There was a hum of response. "I'm sure Snowpoint has a market, or… something. Right?" Pausing, May smiled, lifting a leg daintily out of the water to splash it back in. "I mean, any excuse to shop is a good one." Blaziken was chuckling quietly, so May took that as a positive sign.

* * *

The stone was icy against her fingers, and for a moment she regretted slipping off her gloves, her hands jerking away from the smooth marble tablets that made up the wall. Snowpoint Temple was beautiful in a frozen wasteland sort of way. There didn't seem to be many other people around exploring, although she supposed it was a pretty cold, remote place as a tourist attraction, and the locals would probably have seen it all before many times. There was a family of Zubat and Golbat hanging above her ominously, observing her as she moved through the temple whimsically. There were ruins engraved into the tablets. It was a series of letters like shapes that looked more like strange, warped Pokemon than it did a discernable kind of symbol. For a moment, she paused, staring hard at one line, tracing the indented shapes with her fingers. If she really squinted, she could start to make out a few of them.

"T…" she mumbled, her fingers growing numb against the wall. "...E…."

"Terrian." A smug voice interrupted her, speaking over her shoulder. Startled, May turned around with a quick inhale, blinking at the brunette who had frightened her. He was tall and wrapped in a thick purple duffle coat, with a camera hung around his neck on a long leather strap. "It's talking about the Terrian Tribe, can't you read?"

"I can read just fine!" May felt her cheeks heat up, embarrassed. "Who are you to make fun of me anyway?"

"The name's Gary," he said, barely concealing a grin. "Gary Oak. I'm here researching these ruins for a paper I'm writing."

"Gary Oak?" May paused, suddenly much less upset. "As in, the grandson of Professor Oak?"

"The one and the same!" There was a flash of irritation in his eyes, but he didn't act on it. May smiled to herself.

"No, you've got me wrong!" May gave a light, airy laugh. "I don't recognise the name because of your grandfather, I recognise the name because we have a mutual friend!" Gary paused, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "My name's May, I'm a coordinator from Hoenn. I used to travel with a guy called Ash Ketchum!"

"Oh!" His expression changed, and suddenly he was smiling. "Oh, you're one of Ashy-boy's friends! Yeah, I remember him mentioning a May way back when! I think Gramps mentioned you once or twice too. He gave you a Squirtle, right?"

"Yeah, Squirtle really took to me, so Professor Oak let me bring him along with me!" May flushed, laughing a little. "He's a Wartortle now, though."

"Good to know," Gary said brighty, a little tinge of pride in his voice. "Your Squirtle was bred from my Blastoise!"

"Oh!" May brightened. "That's so nice!" Gary chuckled, pleased, and turned back to the ruins wall thoughtfully. His eyes glazed over as he scanned the lettering, clearly used to interpreting it by now. "So, this is talking about the Terrian Tribe? I thought they were native to Hoenn; what is a temple for them doing all the way out here?"

"You're not as slow as your reading suggests," Gary teased. "It's unclear. There's been a lot of debate over reasons for this in the academic community for decades, but it's lead to the conclusion that the two origin stories complement each other somehow. They're widely considered to be chronological, anyway."

"They… complement each other?" May frowned, confused. "What does that mean?"

"Well, the lore originating from Sinnoh tells us that the first being in existence was Arceus," Gary explained briskly, reaching deeply into his duffle coat pocket to dig out a small black book. "In the beginning, there was a single Pokemon Egg, and from that Arceus was born. And then Arceus created everything else. Are you familiar with that?" He flipped through the little book quickly, not looking up from it.

"Not particularly," May replied honestly, leaning over to peer at the crumpled pages. "Honestly the only lore I know much about is the Hoenn lore."

"Here." He offered her a better look at a slightly torn page. It had a picture that had been printed off from somewhere else and messily stuck inside, and then heavily annotated in an indecipherable, cursive scrawl. It was a picture of what May assumed to be a Pokemon. It was quadruped and white, and had a yellow, crown like shape around its midsection. It looked regal and imposing, and May felt herself shiver at the sight. Though it might have been the cold. "This is Arceus." Gary didn't sound as impressed as May felt. "Anyway, it's claimed that Arceus then created Dialga and Palkia, the beings of time and space respectively, and also Giratina, the being of anti-matter. Giratina was soon banished to another dimension for becoming too violent, though." He frowned, not fully supportive of his own words. "To be honest, I struggle to follow the Giratina part of the legends."

"Why's that?" May blinked, surprised. Gary let out a huff of breath, creating a white misty cloud of condensation between them. He leant against the temple wall casually.

"I don't know. Talking about other dimensions and stuff. It sounds a bit too science fiction to fit into a legend that's been passed on from the supposed origins of the world." Gary wrinkled his nose, and May pursed her lips, nodding. "But I'm getting off track."

"So Dialga and Palkia created time and space," May murmured thoughtfully, mostly to herself. "What does this have to do with Hoenn?"

"Well, the short version is that if we follow these legends, Sinnoh was the first region to come into existence, followed shortly by Hoenn." He let out another misty breath. "Once Dialga and Palkia were created, Arceus then created three guardians, known more casually as the lake trio. There is a being of emotion, a being of knowledge and a being of willpower; this allowed human life to be born. And when the guardians were created, Arceus is said to have created Sinnoh, and Mt Coronet, which divided up Sinnoh and split it into two halves." Gary paused. "This is where it gets a little more complicated."

"There feels like there's a lot missing," May admitted, frowning.

"Well, this is where we can use the Hoenn lore to plug up those gaps," Gary explained lightly, gesturing to the Terrian Tribe ruins he was leaning upon. "Instead of saying Arceus created Sinnoh, and Mr Coronet, some historians have claimed that actually this was when Arceus created Groudon and Kyogre, who I presume you're more familiar with."

"Yes." May understood immediately. "Groudon's birth would have resulted in mountains, like Mt Coronet, and Kyogre would have created the seas, and the lakes that those guardians went to live in. Right?"

"Right." Gary nodded, glad she was following. "So the speculation then follows that Groudon and Kyogre began to war elsewhere, spreading far across the world, and created clashes of land and seas. Eventually, Arceus created Rayquaza to stop their fighting to give life a chance to flourish, and this would have happened south of Sinnoh, resulting in the creation of Hoenn."

"They were both sealed deep underground in sleep, but people had already begun to worship them," May filled in helpfully. Gary grinned, nodding her on. "Tribes… that must have originated in Sinnoh!"

"If we believe the legends, then yes, all life began in Sinnoh and these ancient tribes will all have originated in Sinnoh." He looked away for a moment. "Arceus then created Regigigas to turn the uninhabitable land mass created by the warring titans into continents, where people could live. Hoenn was properly formed, and some of the tribes began to view it as sacred land, where these great beings slept. Three main tribes then moved from Sinnoh down to Hoenn, in order to be close to their Gods. Regigigas returned to Sinnoh, where he came to rest here, in what eventually became Snowpoint, and Arceus placed three keys - the three Regis - needed to wake it in hidden temples in Hoenn. All of them have now been discovered and explored extensively, but there's still a lot we don't know."

"I met the three Regis!" May stood up a little straighter, and Gary gave her a curious, almost bemused look. "No, really! When I travelled with Ash - and he challenged the Battle Frontier! One of the Frontier Brains had them. Brandon, I think was his name." It took a heartbeat for Gary to respond, but when he did, it was somewhat sarcastic.

"Of course Ashy-boy gets all the fun," he muttered, more amused than anything else. "Sounds about right. Brandon is one of the leading academics in this particular field of study. He's the person who studied the individual Regi temples and came to fully make the link between the Regis and the Terrian Tribe."

"But don't the Terrian Tribe worship Groudon?" May pushed, not seeing the connection. Gary nodded, shrugging.

"Yes, but it was more a sense of worship towards the power of creating and preserving land in order to thrive as a people. It's through the collaboration of Regigigas and Groudon that land was created and also possible to live upon." He flicked his wrist a little as he spoke, partly out of habit and partly to keep his circulation moving. "The Regi Temples are sacred to the Terrian Tribe. And so, there are inscriptions in all of them, including this temple here. They were very proud of their origins. The other tribes are much harder to study, because they left less obvious evidence behind."

"What do you mean?" Frowning, May kicked a little snow off her shoes. She knew a little more on one of the other tribes than she cared to share. "The People of the Water?"

"And the Draconids." Gary gave her a quizzical glance, but didn't say anything. "Any ruins or artifacts they left behind are sparse, rare, and hard to interpret. At least, as far as people are aware. It's rumored that the People of the Sea had a temple that drifts through the oceans, impossible to locate, and then that the Draconids have a temple that is sealed away. It's only possible for one of the direct descendants to open it, or whatever." Gary rolled his eyes. "At that point it all starts to frustrate me."

"I can imagine." May didn't look at him. "It all seems a little more complex than the stories my parents told me as a kid." Turning back to the ruin walls, she traced her fingers over the lettering once again. "A lot more… real."

"It's hard to say the origin stories are real," Gary told her briskly, rolling his shoulders back. "But we know that these Pokemon exist. Or at least, that a lot of them do. I'm not holding my breath for Arceus to show up any time soon, though."

"It must be interesting to research it all, though," May smiled brightly, giving him a sidelong grin. Gary paused, but hummed noncommittally.

"I prefer Archeology." He seemed a little strained. "I prefer facts rather than speculation. But I need to submit papers on a wider range of topics than just my specialist subject if I want to get the University placements I want. I've been doing all sorts here in Sinnoh, like Pokemon Distribution and Endangered Pokemon and… well, all sorts. I'm looking forward to getting back to my own field of study."

"I understand. But even so, I wouldn't discount all legends and lore." May flashed him a toothy smile. "Even if it's just because they're fun stories! There's gotta be some merit to something that's been passed down through generations like that. Even if it's just holding onto our ancestry, as humans and Pokemon together!"

"You're just as happy-go-lucky as him, aren't ya?" Gary snorted a laugh, and May pulled a face. "Naw, it's nice, I guess. You're not wrong, by any means. Regardless, it's cold, and we've been talking about this for a long time. I should get back to my studies."

"Of course, I'm sorry for keeping you!" May flushed, laughing a little. "Thank you for telling me all of that. It's really fascinating!"

"No worries," Gary nodded, shoving his notebook back inside of his pocket. "A friend of Ash is a friend of mine. If you're staying at the Pokemon Center, I might run into you."

"That sounds great!" May nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. The chill was starting to really set in. "We should compare Ash stories sometime. I'm sure you've got some good ones!"

"You have no idea," Gary barked a laugh, giving a flash of someone a lot more arrogant and snooty than May had encountered in her conversation with him thus far. It reminded her of Drew, and for a moment, she thought of the parallels Ash used to draw between their respective rivalries. It made her smile. "See you around, May." He patted her shoulder amicably as he moved on, fastening his coat up a little tighter and staring up at the ruins as he walked through. May watched him leave, waving politely, observing the analytical furrow to his brow as he moved through the catacombs. He seemed nice. A little too smart for his own good, perhaps, but nice.

There wasn't much to see at the Temple other than the surface ruins. It was mostly off limits unless you were given permission by Candice, the local Gym Leader, and May wasn't curious enough to go out of her way. Sated enough by the stories she'd heard and her new understanding of the lore she grew up hearing, she moved on from the Temple and decided to make her way towards the Lake she'd heard about. Gary's stories about the guardians spurred her on a little, too. As she made her way through the frozen city, snow crunching delightfully under her boots as she went, she spared a little more thought to everything that had happened a year ago.

"I wonder how Manaphy got involved in all of this," she wondered aloud, before shaking the thoughts from her head. "Hm." It wasn't good to dwell on Manaphy for long. It only ever made her long for something she couldn't have.

* * *

It was crisp and clear. The lake was beautiful, and wrapped in thick pine trees, dusted with powdery white snow. There wasn't a cloud left in sight, and somehow that made the air feel even cooler than before. Nestling herself further into her coat, May pulled out a pokeball. While it was fairly frigid out, there didn't seem much to explore here at the lake other than to admire it's beauty, and May was reminded of the reason she came to Sinnoh in the first place.

"Wartortle!" A flash of light later, and her small blue companion was close at hand, grinning up at her with a slight shiver. May smiled. "I know it's cold out, so I'm sorry for that. But if we want to take that Wallace Cup ribbon back to Johto with us we better keep our training up!" Wartortle wasn't shy in his determination, and they got straight into practicing Aqua Tail. Wartortle needed to be able to balance on his front arms while he directed the water with his powerful tail, and it was a difficult skill to master. But he'd been getting much better at it, and May felt ready to risk it in an appeal.

The sun glare caught some of the water spray, bouncing off the lake surface, and refracted into a small rainbow. May caught an idea.

There was a strong gush of wind, rustling the trees and filling the otherwise silent lake with a tremble of noise. May paused, turning away from Wartortle for a moment. She'd been sure there was something behind her. A glowing light, maybe. Or a shifting shadow.

Maybe not.

* * *

Gary had been staying in Snowpoint for a few weeks, and he was looking forward to returning to the rest of Sinnoh where it was relatively more temperate. The day had been long, albeit nicely broken up by his meeting May, and he was completely exhausted of his research for the time being. Nurse Joy had gotten to know him well enough during his time there to have a mug of hot tea waiting for him upon his return, to warm his fingers and clear his mind, for which he was very grateful. Having such a varied itinerary in Sinnoh was interesting and stimulating to a point, but he struggled to get enthusiastic about legends like this. It wasn't something he put much store by. When he'd spoken to his Grandfather about this, he'd been pretty firm on the matter. If he was going to be a renowned Pokemon Professor one day, or something, he'd have to have a much wider breadth of knowledge than just in his chosen field. He was only just coming up to his fifteenth birthday, and it was such a long time before he'd be applying to further education; already the pressure of his name was catching up to him. He groaned, and took a deeper drink of his tea, before taking out his notebook to review his scribbles from the day. He just wanted to spend a little time at Lake Acuity for a few days, and then he could move on.

"Good evening!" Gary hadn't expected to see her again, but was happy for a friendly face when May dropped onto the seat next to him, holding her own mug. "How'd the rest of your research go?"

"Not bad," he offered quietly, amused. The smell of chocolate from her mug was a little overpowering, and her cheeks were flushed pink from the cold. "Where'd you end up today?"

"The lake," May told him lightly. "I was curious about the guardian stories you told me, but I ended up just training." She shrugged, taking a long, noisy sip. "I'm entering the Wallace Cup in a few days."

"Oh, right, you're a coordinator. I forgot." Gary nodded, humming. "Do you know Dawn as well then? The coordinator Ash travels with?"

"Not personally," she said lightly. "Ash has told me a lot about her." May paused for a moment, a little unsure. Gary glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. If he thought anything, he chose not to comment. "But she's entering the Wallace Cup too! I'm getting a ferry down south tomorrow, and meeting them at Lake Valor."

"Oh, cool." Gary nodded. "They're close by Pastoria, then. I was going to head that way pretty soon, maybe I'll bump into them."

"Wanna travel down together tomorrow?" May offered brightly. She enjoyed his company, and she wanted to hear more about the legends. "I've got a ship first thing, we'd get there in good time!"

"Nah, I gotta check out the lake first," Gary replied apologetically, laughing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's a shame though."

"Well if you ask me, there wasn't much at the lake to see!" May looked a little huffy. "I was so excited, I really thought for a moment I'd meet something special. There was this gust of wind, but… I don't know, nothing happened." Gary gave her an odd look.

"A gust of wind?" He paused, and she nodded, not following. "Anything else?"

"Maybe a glowing light?" May frowned. "It was pretty clear and bright out though, so I figured I was just seeing things. You don't think…?"

"The being of that lake is called Uxie," Gary told her conversationally. "It's said it only shows itself to those of great wisdom and intelligence."

"Well, then I doubt Uxie showed up for me!" May gave a careless laugh. "I don't really fit that description."

"I doubt anyone who spent a long period of time in Ash's company would," Gary teased, and May pulled a face. "Ah, I wouldn't worry about it. It was probably a trick of the light, and if not, then it was probably a shy Snover or something."

"Probably!" May smiled, glad to not dwell on it. Run ins with legendary pokemon in the past had often just left her drained and sad. "Still, it sure would be exciting, huh?" Gary arched an eyebrow at her, smirking a little.

"I haven't met anyone this intrigued by the legends going on around here since that guy I bumped into around Mt Coronet," he said lightly, mostly to himself. "Paul or something. Anyway." May's eyes sharpened, and she stared at Gary for a moment, her her pupils darting back and forth as she watched his face, wondering how uncharacteristic it would be for her to press, and what that might give away. Paul was a pretty common name.

She drained the last of her hot chocolate. "I need to get to bed; I've got to be up early if I want to hit the market before I go to the harbour. I want to get Ash and Brock some gifts." She stood up, waiting for a moment while she thought. "I should get Dawn something, too. Ash said she was having a rough time."

"She is?" Gary felt a twinge of surprise at the news. She'd seemed such a permanently cheerful and positive person - almost annoyingly. "Oh. I didn't know."

"Her contests aren't going too good." May paused, biting her lip. "What should I get her? You've met her before."

"Something… pretty." Gary shrugged. "She's into her… female stuff. Got a bit gushy over Gramps' poetry, kinda girly."

"Ah, now that I can work with," May smiled. "Accessories and jewelry?"

"She'd eat it right up," Shaking his head a little, he laughed into his hand. "Whatever you get Ash he's probably going to lose or break, so I'd make it pretty durable if I were you."

"Lifesaver." Wrinkling her nose, May laughed back. "Well, Gary Oak, it's been good to meet you."

"Likewise, May," Gary replied lightly, standing up to shake her hand. "I'll look out for the Wallace Cup on TV. It'd be nice to see Wartortle perform."

"I'm using him in the appeals round, so you won't be disappointed!" May gave him a big grin. "I'll tell Ash and Brock hi for ya, okay? And Dawn too!"

"Sounds good. Tell them I'll probably see them around Pastoria sometime soon," Gary told her conversationally. "If Ash doesn't get them all lost by then, that is."

"It's not out of the realm of possibility!" May stifled a giggle. "Goodnight, Gary!" She turned on her heel and scurried away, a little flighty and giddy from the chocolate, and Gary went back to his notes. He looked up from them for a moment, watching her retreating form, before shaking his head, not wanting to waste time on it. The odds of Uxie appearing were very slim, after all. She wasn't the brightest person she'd met, after all. He hadn't been reported to have been seen in years, after all.

Quietly, he returned to his work.

* * *

Pastoria City

* * *

The hems of his trousers were caked in thick, pungent mud. It better resembled slime than earth. The marshlands around Pastoria were famously swamp like, but Paul hadn't really cared for the repercussions for his clothes, more concerned with training his pokemon in a challenging environment. The training had been productive, and Gliscor was looking powerful. But Nurse Joy had been less than pleased at the trail of muddy footprints he left through the lobby, so when he'd handed over his pokemon her irritation had been made more than clear. He'd apologised politely and returned to his room to clean up and change, and by the time he'd made his way back down to the lobby he felt ready to get back out and continue his training. But his Pokemon were still a little weary, according to Nurse Joy, so he was left to wait around in the lobby for a while.

There was a group of trainers off to the far side of the lobby, all stood around a television screen that hung suspended from the ceiling. There was loud clamouring and excited chatter about the famous trainers on screen, and so naturally, the thought of powerful trainers facing off caught Paul's attention for a moment. WIth nothing better to do, he wandered across, leaning forward on the back of a sofa to get a look. He recognised Wallace, the new Champion of Hoenn, talking enthusiastically to a bubbling audience. He didn't know much about the new Champion; he'd left Sootopolis Gym before he'd had the chance to challenge it, and he'd apparently swept to the top of the Pokemon League without being an Elite Four member first. This was a source of controversy in the Hoenn press, but it quickly dwindled when Wallace proved himself to be a more than competent leader, and his interest in contests and coordinating won over the Hoenn public quickly. Especially when he'd brought about the Wallace Cup.

With a grimace, Paul realised that was exactly what he was watching.

While the appeals rules were being chanted out by the announcer, he realised just how little he really understood contests. They were flamboyant and over the top and, well, perhaps a little gaudy for his taste. Anything he'd ever read or heard about them had been complimentary enough to have grabbed his interest enough to sustain him through watching one or two contests in the past, but the sight of these supposed trainers in over the top frocks and suits, with sequins and glitter practically pouring from them, left a rather disdainful hum in the back of his throat.

Still, he maintained his focus. There wasn't much else to do for now, and he knew the importance of understanding a variety of pokemon styles. A lot of the strongest trainers these days had competed in a few contests, and it was a style of battling he needed to be acquainted with if he wanted to know how best to combat it.

The first trainer was being announced - a girl from Hoenn, who was quite popular, apparently. She had some bland, uninteresting name, after a month of the year, maybe. He frowned. An oddly familiar brunette with hair parted on each side, and a much simpler getup than he was used to in contests, ran out onto the stage. Her outfit was a little odd, but much less tawdry than some of the ballgowns he had seen watching contests in the past, so he found it rather refreshing. They introduced her as May, and she pulled out a Wartortle that looked decently well trained. The water type showed off his strengths, showcasing a rapid spin attack that left water to glitter in the air around him, and balancing on his forearms to show off a spiralling aqua tail that would have taken patience and balance to perfect. Paul found himself pausing. The commentators were speaking more of this girl, talking about her previous Grand Festival showings and her statistics as a coordinator. She'd done quite well, for a relative newcomer, apparently. It was only her third season. But what else could they expect from Petalburg City Gym Leader's daughter?

Paul tightened his fists for a second, blinking. What had they called her again? May? Narrowing his eyes, he focused.

If it was the same girl he'd met in Petalburg, she'd sure changed a lot. He would have expected that girl to fly out in a pink, flouncy ballgown and send out an undertrained, but pretty, Pokemon, and to fly around in a dizzy panic. But instead she stood firmly, smiling confidently as she commanded her well raised Wartortle, showing off the best of his moves in an appealing, clever way. Now that he thought about it, that hair looked similar.

She ended by making a little rainbow with Wartortle's water gun. It was a little twee for his tastes, but not entirely awful.

Quietly, he moved away from observing the contest for a while to get a drink. It was a surprise to see her competing in anything, after all. He'd expected her to fall away from her determined promise to impress her father, tumbling back into a cosy, meaningless life. Clearly, she'd done the opposite. It wasn't something that warranted much of his time to think about it though. He'd much rather grab a glass of orange juice from the main desk and return to waiting in relative peace.

By the time he'd finished the juice though, he found his mind wandering back. And so, he made his way back across to the lobby television, wondering if there was anything else worth seeing. The small gathering around the television were all commentating excitedly to each other. There was a girl saying loudly that a boy called Kyle had entered and how much she disliked him, for a whole collection of reasons that Paul really couldn't care less about. He was much more drawn to what was on the screen.

Ash looked like an idiot.

He walked away, groaning to himself. Maybe his Pokemon were ready by now.

* * *

Ecruteak City

* * *

It had been a week since she'd arrived back in Olivine City from Sinnoh, and a week of quiet reflection and irritation at that. May was the first to admit she was in a rut with her contest, but the last to think of anything she could do to combat it. Her head felt like it was drawn somewhere else, like she had lost some kind of purpose she used to have. There was a goal somewhere that was getting a little out of focus. But there was another contest coming up soon, in Mahogany Town. She'd promised her rivals she'd meet them there after missing the contest in Ecruteak, and her bag felt a little heavier than usual with trinkets she'd brought them from Sinnoh. As nice as it had been to see Ash, and Brock, and to meet Dawn, and Zoey, she needed to get her head back into a competitive place and prepare for another tough competition. Time with Harley, Solidad and Drew was always the best way to do that.

Ecruteak was pretty. Spring had flurried in some time while she was stuck in a snowstorm in Sinnoh, and the air here was full of cherry blossom, fluttering around the traditional arched buildings of this historical city. She didn't have long to hang around here; if she wanted to get to Mahogany by the day after tomorrow, she'd have to set off again first thing in the morning. But it seemed such a peaceful place, yet with a quiet hum of an exciting history that enthralled her, that May knew she'd have to double back at some point and explore more thoroughly. Even the Pokemon Center here seemed to match the subdued, gentle tone of the city. Maybe something about the roof shingles, she wondered, as the double doors of the center slid open.

"May." Her thoughts were shaken away, and she looked up in a sharp surprise as a familiar voice caught her off guard. Drew was stood by Nurse Joy's desk, looking a little too pleased with himself, leaning nonchalantly against the counter with one leg folded past the other. He was relaxed, confident, and for reasons beyond her for that moment, all together too smug. "It's been a while."

"It's been about a month," May sighed melodramatically, her hands finding her hips as she quirked her lips into a teasing smile. "You miss me or something?"

"With every aching moment," he deadpanned, rolling his eyes. He still looked pleased, though, and nodded as she came to stand by him. "How was Sinnoh?"

"Good!" May replied honestly, although slightly tinged with the weight of a loss she knew he would be fully aware of. "It was good, really. Next time."

"Sure." Drew wasn't going to press if she didn't seem too outwardly unhappy. "Nice Glaceon."

"Thanks," she smiled sincerely, immediately brighter for the compliment. "Aren't you supposed to be waiting in Mahogany to chastise me for taking so long to get there or something?"

"I figured I'd hang around Ecruteak for a while," he shrugged, not meeting her eye. "Training, and all. Around Mt Mortar, mostly. I'll head that way tomorrow morning."

"That's my plan too!" May beamed, oblivious. "We should go together! We were planning on meeting up there anyway, right?"

"Just don't slow me down." He gave her another smug grin, and she swatted at his shoulder with a scowl. "Jeez, May, always with the violence."

"Jeez, Drew," May rolled her eyes. "Always with the being a big dweeb."

"Lackluster insults aside," he snorted, "you are in Ecruteak later than I'd expected. I would have thought you'd pass through here days ago."

"I took my time around Moo Moo Farm." May arched an eyebrow. "Were you waiting for me?"

"Don't get your hopes up." Drew coughed a little. "I figured you'd pass this way eventually, regardless of my plans. Anyway. I was on my way to grab coffee, do you want anything?" May didn't dwell on it, and immediately brightened.

"Well, wait for me to drop off my pokemon with Nurse Joy and I'll come with!" She gave him a toothy grin. "Especially if we can get danishes. Please tell me we're getting danishes."

"You can get a danish." Drew pursed his lips to hide a smile. "A cavity, while you're at it."

"You really don't have to pay," May blinked innocently, and Drew's face dropped.

"Good, because I didn't offer," he began. She cut him off quickly.

"Offering to take me out to coffee and to get danishes and all." Smiling sweetly, May passed her pokeballs over to a passing Chansey. Drew scowled. "So gracious."

"Fine, I'll pay." His hands found his pockets, and he thumbed over his wallet, almost apologetically. "You owe me."

"I'll pay you back in my never ending friendship." May giggled stupidly, and he sighed, defeated. "And by beating you at the Grand Festival again, but being all nice and not mean about it. Classy. Graceful in victory."

"It's not like you've ever been graceful before," Drew muttered, and she scowled. "It would be quite the show."

"Let's just go get the pastries, Mr Rose." May sauntered ahead, not amused, and Drew followed after with a thinly veiled smile.


	3. Growing Up: Sixteen and Seventeen

**Growing Up: Sixteen and Seventeen**

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

The sky was blurred with deep red tones and the dying silver of stars. The cliff face lead over to a deep, somewhat unsettling drop, plunging into the unknown in broken rock and crumbling boulders. Weeds and winding vines worked their way up the craggy walls, wrapping the otherwise barren crater in patches of life and growth. The sun was peering over the horizon, a new day bursting forward, preparing to fill what was currently a brisk dawn with the dry heat of summer. Quietly, Paul shrugged off his jacket, feeling the prickles of sweat at the back of his neck, and let it hang on the wooden fence that stood between him and an inconceivably long drop. Torterra grunted softly, taking another mouthful of Pokefood, and gave his trainer a long, silent stare. Paul didn't look at him, instead examining the view in front of him almost analytically. He had woken up much earlier than he'd intended, but that could only be a positive. It gave him more time to prepare, and to think through his strategy one more time. Torterra grunted again, and Paul finally met his gaze. Stiffly, he nodded. Appeased, Torterra returned to his food, before resting his head against the dusty rock floor, closing his eyes for a moment. He was calm.

Paul breathed slowly for a moment, the only noise in the quiet morning air.

He was not calm.

* * *

Viridian City

* * *

Drumming her fingers impatiently against the edge of the smooth wooden table, May let out a puff of an irritated breath. It had been a long journey from the Indigo Plateau, and she'd been traveling since dawn thanks to her companions outranking her as morning people, three to one. Solidad, Drew and Harley had all moved straight on to head north to Pewter City, where Solidad's family was ready to receive them for a few weeks while they all debated what region they'd tackle next. It had been nice to travel with them briefly after the years of competing with them, but never spending a concrete amount of time as a foursome. They were all good friends, after all these years. She was looking forward to joining them in the next few days.

The coffee shop was pretty empty considering it was early afternoon. There was a small gaggle of girls eagerly debating the recent Grand Festival, noisily slurping milkshakes, and a quiet elderly gentleman sitting alone, sipping a mug of herbal tea. He looked peaceful. The barista behind the counter looked bored, knocking cupboards with her hip to close them as she hummed along with the generic, fuzzy music coming out over the cafe radio, tuned to a station May didn't recognise with a song she didn't know. Even if she had, there was too much static to hear it clearly. Bored, she checked her Pokenav to see the time again.

"I'm so sorry!" Ash dropped into the seat opposite her, the flower on their table obstructing his face. He pushed it to the side, grinning stupidly, and Pikachu leapt from the spot atop his head across to squeal excitedly into her neck.

"Pikachu!" May squealed a little herself, cuddling the small yellow Pokemon close to her chest. His fur crackled with an excitable static. "Ash, I thought you were going to be here like half an hour ago!"

"I know, I know, I'm totally sorry," Ash rambled, a little breathless and beaming across at her blankly, like his mind was elsewhere. "But aw man, there was this little group of Nidoran that were running around everywhere, and Pikachu wanted to play…" Pikachu gave him a pointed look. "Okay, so maybe I wanted to play. They were having so much fun though May! What's life if you can't play a little sometimes." He widened his eyes, holding his cap to his chest, and May sighed, laughing a little under her breath. He hadn't changed much over the years. His hair was a little longer than when she'd last seen him, and he was definitely much taller. Kalos had coloured his already tanned skin, and there were brushes of stubble threatening to break out over his top lip. But other than that, his eyes were as big and brown and full of warmth as they had always been, and his smile was as lopsided and dopey as she remembered.

"You haven't changed." She was glad of it, too. Pikachu scrambled up her arm and perched atop her head, the shape of his ears matching the bow in her hair, constructed with her old bandana. Ash gave her a winning smile. She wondered if she had changed noticeably over the years, in his eyes.

"You know it." He burst out laughing. "So, how's things? How are you doing post festival? I watched the final on the plane ride home, it looked intense."

"Oh, you know." May pursed her lips. "I'll get over it. Drew really deserved that win, you know." She had been pleased for him then and she was pleased for him now - and it made sense that he became a top coordinator before she did. It was just a big pill to swallow along the way. But it wasn't her first time losing to him in a Grand Festival, and she knew she could always come back stronger next season. "He was great. And I learned a lot this season, so I really think I'm gonna come back stronger next time around!"

"That's the spirit!" Ash banged on the table between them a little too enthusiastically, and May jumped, laughing as the cutlery clattered noisily. He had the grace to look embarrassed for a moment and withdraw his hand, and Pikachu sighed atop May's head, deciding it was high time he took a nap. "I mean, that's real great May. What's next?"

"We'll see." May didn't feel confident saying anything without having spoken to her rivals first, and Ash paused, looking her over. "Gotta wait and see where the others are headed, first."

"I totally get you!" Ash nodded, smiling widely. "Having a real competitive set of rivals is important." He leaned forward, conspiratorially. "You gotta take him down, next time around. Right?"

"Right." May flashed him a more relaxed smile. "Yeah." There was a moment of shared understanding, of both frustration and pride in the rivals they'd collected through the years, and appreciation for the common ground it had led them to. May didn't know anyone who put as much stock in their rivals as he and she did. "Next time. I'm going to head up to Pewter City soon to spend more time with him, and Harley and Solidad. Figure out where we go next, you know?"

"Oh, do you have to leave soon?" Ash's face crumbled, disappointed. "I was hoping you'd come back to Pallet Town for a few days! Professor Oak sure would have been pleased to see you, and I called ahead to Mom to get her to set up the spare room for you!"

"That's so sweet of you," May laughed behind her hand, touched. "You know, I'm sure I can spare a day or two. I was planning on doing a little exploring around Viridian Forest before getting to Pewter anyway, to see if I could find any new Pokemon, but I think time in Pallet would be even better!" Pikachu cooed his agreement, chirping from his place on her lap, and she rubbed between his ears fondly.

"Alright!" Ash cheered far too loudly for an indoors setting. "We'll set off right after lunch!"

"Sounds like a plan!" May nodded enthusiastically, beaming.

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

"Stand by for battle!" The words felt comfortable and familiar in his mouth, and did something towards reducing his heartbeat. It was just another battle; it was just an opponent he had faced many times before. It had been - surely not that long - a year, a year and a half, since he'd last challenged the Battle Pyramid. After the Sinnoh League, he had returned to Snowpoint City to make another challenge, and after losing there, he had challenged once more whilst the Pyramid stood in Johto for a time, skirting the edge of Violet City. Finally, it had returned to it's position within the Battle Frontier of Kanto, awaiting it's challengers, and Paul had been the first in line. The pokeball slipped from his hand effortlessly, and Magmortar stood strong, it's thick legs spread evenly as he tested his fiery cannons. Opposite him, Brandon seemed equally firm in stature, tossing his own pokeball in an authoritative, yet slick motion. There were no nerves for him.

"Ninjask," Brandon smiled. "I need your assistance!" The buzzing bug type Pokemon appeared in a flash of white light, and darted from one side of the field to the other in a quick test of it's own speed. It seemed satisfied, and stared down it's much larger opponent indifferently. Size and type advantage meant nothing next to strategy in the Pyramid. "Let's get started, shall we Paul?"

"Magmortar," Paul called, thrusting his arm forward. He was ready. "Flamethrower! Go!" Magmortar swung his cannon forward, locking it in place, and shot forwards a steady stream of searing hot flames. Ninjask darted around them quickly, not needing instruction, and Paul gritted his teeth together. He'd expected as much. "Widen your focus!" The flames began to grow less controlled, and spread further afield as Magmortar began to twist his cannon to try and chase after the bug. But it was too quick.

"Ninjask," Brandon prepared his counter. "Use sand attack." Ninjask wasted no time, swooping low to the ground and picking up a flurry of grainy dust from the battle field, spraying it forward into the jets of fire. The flames dwindled, and Magmortar moved back a little, surprised enough to halt his attack. The sand spray continued, and Brandon took advantage. "Carry on, Ninjask. Sandstorm." Soon, the field was impossible to decipher. There was a blizzard of dirt, swirling typhoons of dust, a fog of sand.

"Magmortar, stand by," Paul grunted, displeased. "Use your Rock Tomb to get some traction." With the hope of providing some buffers from the storm, Magmortar brought up boulders through the ground, sheltering behind them while Paul reassessed where to go next. Brandon was watching him, somewhere behind the storm, waiting to see where he'd go next. The thought was toxic to him. "Use smog!" The idea came as quickly as he'd verbalised it. Quick to follow, Magmortar shot the purple smoke into the air and let it mix with the sandstorm. The heavy wind did all of the work for them, and the poisonous fumes spread through the field effortlessly, and revealing just where Ninjask was when it hit. Not very effective, but at least he could see Ninjask.

"Not bad," Brandon stifled a nod. "Not enough, though. Double team."

"You're kidding," Paul hissed. Visibility was enough of a problem already. But now, there were vague shadows of Ninjask spread far and wide, some up high at the peak of the storm, and some hovering close to Magmortar, tauntingly. Gritting his teeth, Paul began to lose patience.

"Will-O-Wisp," he ordered stiffly. "Hit every single one." Magmortar, still ducked behind the boulders, peered over and aimed its arms skyward. Violet orbs of fire formed, and flew towards every shadow they could find. One Ninjask disappeared. And then another. And then another. Paul began to relax.

"Aerial ace." Brandon didn't miss a beat, and before Paul could blink the sand from his eyes every shadow disappeared, and Ninjask was right by his Magmortar, striking it solidly in the chest. "Close range sand attack." What little defence the boulders had given him, Ninjask was quick to strip away, and Magmortar now staggered blindly, eyes watering and full of dirt. "It was a nice thought, those boulders."

Paul chose not to rise to the bait. "Magmortar, stand firm." There had to be some solution to this, somewhere, he just needed to find it. He could use the wind from the sandstorms somehow. There was a strategy there somewhere. "Flamethrower. Aim straight up." It was a risk, but it was all he could do. Luck seemed to turn for him, though, and just as the sandstorm carried his smog attack, it carried the flames. Suddenly, there was a hurricane of burning dust, disintegrating all in it's path and trapping Ninjask like a superpowered fire spin. There was a loud squeal of pain, and as the flames dispersed, Ninjask lay in the middle of the field, twitching and crisp. Paul exhaled, relieved. One down, five to go.

"Ninjask, return." Brandon didn't waste his breath on praise. "Solrock, please. Lend me your assistance!" The sunlike Pokemon spun forwards in a flash of light, and Paul planted his feet firmly into the ground. One victory meant nothing in this battle. Magmortar needed to hold his ground, to give him some breathing room later in the battle. It wasn't going to be easy.

"Magmortar, on your guard." Paul glanced around the field for a moment, checking the damage. There was still a faint gush of grainy wind from the fading sandstorm, but other than that the conditions seemed to have been reset. The field was open, and there was little to use as a defence.

"Solrock, use Zen Headbutt." Brandon didn't waste any time, and the meteorite Pokemon flung itself across the field, glowing an ethereal blue as it targeted Magmortar. Paul paused.

"Rock tomb," Paul countered quickly. "Quickly." Rocks pulled themselves up from the ground again, and Magmortar flung them forward, crashing into Solrock as it sped towards them. But as the psychic type collided with the boulders they shattered, glowing in blue fragments and falling to the ground around it as it continued its surge forward. Paul ground his teeth together. There was so much power in the small Pokemon, and so much speed. There was no way Magmortar would have been able to avoid it.

When he recalled his first Pokemon, it was with an agitated twitch.

"Who's next?" Brandon challenged proudly. Paul had challenged Brandon many times before now, and he knew better than to think it was going to get any easier from here. He'd hoped that he could take out the first few of his Pokemon with just Magmortar and keep his Pokemon ready for when the inevitable three legendaries were presented to him. Paul fastened his hand around his next Pokeball, flicking it forward with his wrist.

"Froslass, stand by for battle." His eyes did not falter.

* * *

Lilycove

* * *

For the third time within the space of five minutes, Madison ran her tongue across the swell in her lip. She'd bitten it too hard, and her bottom lip had puffed up comically on one side. Every coworker she'd crossed paths with in the past half hour had deemed it necessary to give their opinions on it, and she was a long way past irritated. Pulling the red hood of her uniform a little tighter around her face, she pushed on, her low heels clicking noisily against the polished stone floors of their base. Courtney had called her in, goodness knows why, and she was determined to make a good impression, lip be damned. Madison hadn't been around the laboratories much; she'd always worked on the front lines with the rest of the grunts. The base in general was a maze to her; she'd been working there for three years and she still got lost quite frequently. It was the warp panels, she reasoned. They were impractical.

When she reached the lab, there was a small group of scientists huddled around the prototype magma suit. She'd only heard rumours of it, up until then. Maxie had mentioned it in one of his group addresses, but she'd never seen it before, and the grunts liked to gossip. Quietly, she kept her distance until she was sure Courtney was among them. Her lilac bob seemed to bounce with her exuberance as she typed furiously at a computer monitor, her eyes glazed over as she took in information from the web page. Research. More and more research.

"Scanning…" she hummed, barely registering the new presence in the room. "... Downloaded." Her eyes shut, and she took a moment to mumble to herself, confirming the last of her data intake. "Hmm… interesting." There was silence in the laboratory, and a few of the scientists glanced at her, as though waiting for her to input into their conversation.

"Admin Courtney, would you mind sharing your thoughts?" A brave man stepped forwards, his hands knotted behind his lab coat, and her blank eyes flashed at him.

"I do believe I told you my presence here was not for your little suit malfunction, but for my own research of another topic." Her voice was firm and authoritative, and yet laced with dispassionate clarity. "What my thoughts are are absolutely none of your concern."

"Admin Courtney, my apologies, I did not mean to…" Panic rippled through the small group of scientists, whom all began to exchange worried glances. Courtney sighed quietly to herself, and then looked between the small gaggle of identical looking men. She scowled.

"Your problem with the suit is material based. Devon Corp should have a databank of chemical compounds that would be more durable in the conditions we're anticipating. Hack into their network, quietly, and see what you can find if you're too incompetent to manage it yourself." Courtney returned her gaze to her computer screen and did not look up at them again. "Hire a female scientist. Perhaps she will offer you practical advice in these moments so that I don't have to." Madison blinked, before smiling a little to herself. "Well, don't just stand in the entrance looking awkward, Ms Beauvoir, please join us." It took Madison a heartbeat to realise Courtney had addressed her. Jolting into life, she scurried forward.

"Admin Courtney," Madison addressed her formally. "My apologies."

"Please," Courtney flashed her a small, secretive grin. "Call me Courtney. Tell me then, and loud enough so these fools can hear, why are women so valuable in our line of work?"

"Because women know how to wash blood out of every kind of fabric?" Madison shot back instinctively, hoping not to have crossed a line. Courtney barked a laugh.

"Cute." She snorted. "I think I prefer your answer to mine. Shall we go for a quick talk?" Blinking back her confusion, Madison nodded, and obediently followed after Courtney as she strode across to the other side of the lab. There was another warp panel there, one that Madison had never gone near before, and some kind of trepidation began to seize up her throat. Courtney did not look back at her to check if she was following, nor to reassure her in anyway. As Courtney dissolved into the warp panel, her smooth, youthful face quirking in a crooked grin as she noticed Madison watching somewhat apprehensively, Madison hardened herself, and stepped in after her.

They were in Courtney's office, it seemed. There was a solid metal desk in the middle that gave off a bright glare when the synthetic lights above hit them. One of the walls was covered by cork, and was covered in maps with pins in them, and photographs of various pieces of technology and stolen equations that she had ordered in a precise, exact way. There wasn't much personal in the room. There were no potted plants, or pictures of family, or comforts from home.

"So, Madison, isn't it?" Courtney did not waste time dropping herself into her desk chair, spinning around to face her. "Madison Beauvoir. You aren't native to Hoenn?"

"Kalos." Madison shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other. "Laverre City. I visited Hoenn when I was travelling with my Pokemon when I was a teenager, and then just never really… left."

"Your files are vague and sparse." Courtney flashed her a warning glance. "Is there anything about you I need to know?"

"I moved here when I was seventeen." Madison quickly realised specifics were required. "My parents are both dead, I have no siblings. I am totally devoted to Team Magma."

"Why?" Courtney challenged quietly, her eyes flickering backwards and forwards as she observed Madison's posture. Unusually tall. Straight, arched back. Shoulders back. Head high.

"Because human life needs to expand." It seemed so obvious to her. "You don't need to question my motives. The world is very quickly becoming overpopulated, and we don't have the resources to provide for everyone. We need land to farm, to mine new materials, to build homes and lives. It just makes sense, doesn't it?" Courtney did not reply, but hummed quietly in response, her eyes tightly focused on Madison's face. Madison paused, awkwardly. Every pore on her face felt exposed, like she was being scanned by complex machinery. The pause continued, and the silence was beginning to burn in her ears. "C-Courtney?"

"Are you aware of why I asked to see you?" Courtney asked lightly. Madison bit the inside of her cheek. It had occurred to her that it wasn't typical for grunts to be called in for one on one meetings with admin members of the team, but she had a good idea of why she'd been singled out. "You handled the invasion last month terrifyingly well. News of your victory went all the way to the top. Maxie is impressed with you."

"I don't think I did anything particularly special," Madison began to protest, but the cool glance Courtney responded with silenced her quickly.

"You performed admirably." Courtney's voice did not rise or fall, but maintained a dispassionate, metallic clarity. "It takes a lot of wit to outsmart an advanced Aqua operative." Feeling her cheeks redden, Madison looked away. A few weeks ago, they'd had an altercation at the door, and a member of Team Aqua had broken into the base. He'd been clever, coming in through an underwater route, and dressed in burgundy colours that seemed to blend him into the surroundings without much notice. No one had picked up on his documenting their research and going through their files until he had begun to make his way to leave. Madison had crossed his path out of coincidence - she had been running late to meet with one of her supervisors - and had literally bumped into him in a hallway. After stumbling to the ground and staring at each other for a long, awkward moment, Madison had been quick to notice the documents tucked under his arm, the uniform that was too casual to grant him jurisdiction to hold them, and the silent caution that flashed across his face. It had been a plan she constructed in half a second, but it was the best she could think of to confirm her suspicions. Tossing her hair and blinking innocently, she'd slowly and quietly led him to believe she was a spy. It took some time to convince him without being too brazen or obvious, but her Kalosian accent and pink toned skin had always made her a little awkward among the mostly Hoenn native ranks, and she'd used it to her advantage. A thicker accent. Mixing up grammar she found simple. Sliding her skirt a little higher. It had almost been easy. "Maxie was very impressed with you, once the report had been filed."

"I'm flattered." Madison wasn't sure what else to say. "What happened to him?"

"Hm?" Courtney's eyes unfocused for a moment. Once Madison had persuaded him of more information elsewhere that he could take to the police (it was an easier lie than pretending to also come from Team Aqua), she had lead him to a containment unit where he'd be stuck in a dead end, and she'd have the ability to shut him in if he proved stronger than she could handle. Defeating him in a Pokemon battle had not been part of her initial intention. Her Pokemon were not trained battlers; it wasn't her strong point. But when he'd realised she was backing him into a corner, he'd sent out a Mightyena and she was forced to send out her Braixen. It was with speed and evasive tactics that she'd somehow defeated him, an experienced enough Aqua operative to be sent into the base on a solo mission, and by the time he was about to send out another Pokemon, security had picked up on his presence and Courtney had arrived, blowing him away. "He was kept in the containment unit for a few days while we processed what he had learnt. Unfortunately, he escaped." Courtney was clearly bothered by this. "He knew far too much, and it's a worry. Security failed us when he got in, and they failed us when he got out. If it weren't for your efforts, we wouldn't be aware of the breach, and we managed to minimise the leak. He doesn't have the documents or the images he took, only what he remembers."

"Do you think that it's enough to be a problem in the future?" Madison didn't have clearance to know what the plans were for the future, but she knew enough to know that within the next year or so there was going to be a step forward. Courtney pursed her lips, but then shrugged.

"Variables… there are so many variables already." It seemed this was all she wanted to say on the subject. "You tricked him. I want to talk about how you tricked him. It was quite the performance; we picked it up on our security cameras when reviewing security procedures. You've a flair for the dramatic." Madison folded her arms over her chest, before hiding a smile behind a sheet of dark hair. "Is there something funny?"

"I just realised why you called me in." Madison's voice trembled a little with laughter, and Courtney offered a wry smile.

"Why are women so valuable to our line of work?" Courtney asked again, and the grunt smiled.

"Because we are so easily underestimated." Madison grinned winningly. "What do you need me to do?" Courtney nodded, pleased, and took some papers out of a drawer.

"You'll answer to me directly, from now on." She pursed her lips. "We've got some training to do."

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

"Not bad, Paul." Brandon's words felt condescending, though Paul knew they weren't intended to be. "You've improved." They both knew Paul had not achieved what he had wanted, though. Froslass had taken down Solrock, but then Dusknoir had struck hard and fast, and Froslass hadn't lasted two more hits. Electivire had then suffered through a long grueling battle with the ghost type and now stood weakly, and somewhat feebly, as Dusknoir returned to his Pokeball. He wouldn't last another attack, which left Paul and Brandon in the three against three battle that Paul had been so keen to avoid. He had been wrong to hope one of his Pokemon was enough of a match for more than one of Brandon's - he had put too much of his training focus on the Regi family, and not enough on the rest of the team.

"Let's get this started for real, already." Paul wasn't going down without a fight. Brandon stifled a smirk and nodded, tossing forward his next Pokeball.

"Regirock! Lend me your assistance!" As the legendary golem Pokemon stood before him, Paul grunted, somewhat disheartened. Regirock looked even stronger than last time, somehow. A twitch of fury left him rubbing his fingers together slightly, and Paul focused hard on his breathing. He couldn't let himself be overwhelmed by his fury. "I guess I'll be making the first move. Regirock; stone edge!" Regirock pummelled it's huge arms into the ground, before becoming surrounded by ribbons of unexplainable light, spraying sharp fragments of rock towards Paul's exhausted Electivire. Paul felt a crease forming in his forehead, so he took a split second to relax.

"Protect." His usual defences were often rendered pointless by Brandon, in the battles they'd had in the past, but it was the best hope he had for at the very least reducing the damage Electivire would take. Despite Electivire's best efforts, the shards of rock broke through the ethereal blue shield he conjured and collided with the yellow humanoid Pokemon. However, it significantly slowed them, at the least, and Electivire could bear the brunt of them for now. Turning back to nod at his trainer, Electivire offered a knowing grin, and Paul felt oddly reassured. "Now, thunder." Paul watched as Brandon was about to make some teasing, condescending remark about type match ups. Stopping him with a smile was more than satisfying. "On yourself." For a moment, Brandon hesitated, and Paul knew this gave him a little time. Electric energy flew up high in the air, but then dropped down with a spiralling flash, coursing through Electivire like a fresh burst of life, and as it dissipated around him, Brandon reluctantly looked impressed.

"Focus punch!" Brandon didn't want to waste anymore time. Paul didn't mind at all.

"Dodge, and use your brick break!" Paul countered, calmly placing his hand into his pocket. For the moment, he had the momentum. Electivire moved lighteningly quick, slipping around the glowing fist Regirock flung towards him and ducking behind him effortlessly, before slamming a shimmering arm into its back, pushing Regirock away for a moment. Brandon nearly laughed. "My Electivire has Motor Drive."

"I'm vaguely reminded of our first battle," Brandon smirked. "It seems you flipped the odds."

"I'm not here to reminisce." Paul's words caught him off guard, and Brandon nodded, understanding. "Electivire, keep on guard."

"Regirock, strike back with another stone edge!" Not missing a beat, Regirock sent out another powerful blast of rock, and Paul ground his teeth together.

"Electivire, counter shield with thunder!" Paul threw back, his eyes narrowed. Electivire threw out another wave of electricity, forming a cage like barrier around him. "Follow up with protect!" The dual shield they created with Electivire's speed boost giving them extra time was their best chance, and Paul knew it. But the stone edge dismantled it as before.

"Follow up; hyper beam!" Brandon looked too pleased, and Paul knew it was over. Electivire was blown away by an incredible beam of amber energy, and Paul recalled him quietly, feeling his pulse race.

* * *

Viridian City

* * *

"How long do you think you'll be then?" Solidad was very understanding, as ever. "Just a rough idea?"

"Well, I'll be in Pallet by sundown, and I should only be there for one or two days." May rubbed the back of her neck noncommittally. "It should only take a couple days to get back up towards Pewter, so maybe four days from now, tops?"

"That's fine!" Solidad's face crinkled into a warm smile, flickering a little on the video phone screen. "To be honest, it'll take that long to stop Drew and Harley bickering to actually start figuring out where to go next, so you won't miss anything!"

"I guessed as much!" May stifled a laugh behind her fingers. "Are you sure you don't mind? I can always…"

"Go catch up with Ash and Professor Oak, it's been awhile since you've seen them properly!" Her voice was taking on that scolding, motherly tone May didn't even hear from her own parents. "I'll hold the fort down over here. Don't worry about it May!"

"Ah… thank you!" May beamed. "I'm really happy to get the chance to spend time in Pallet! I've not been there in so long! Do you think Harley and Drew will mind?"

"I'm sure!" Solidad waved her off with a grin. "Don't worry about the boys. Harley will flail his legs about for a bit and whine, and Drew will just sulk for a bit. It's actually preferable to watching him show off all the time to get your attention." Her voice trailed off into a laugh, and May paused, immediately unsure.

"Why do you always say stuff like that, Sol?" Her voice suddenly shrunk away, quiet and awkward. Solidad arched a teasing eyebrow, biting her lip to stop from laughing. "It's not funny."

"I'm just saying," she didn't show signs of remorse, "if you don't plan the wedding soon, I will. Catch you in a few days, alright? Let us know when you're setting off!"

"Will do." May didn't meet her eyes, but hung up dutifully as her friend did. Taking a moment to breathe slowly, May pressed a hand to her face. It was loyally cool and without blush.

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

"Torterra, stand by for battle!" Paul was not one for colour in his face, but now his cheeks were streaked with the red of exhaustion, and his hair plastered to his neck with sweat. Brandon looked as collected as ever. Hariyama had managed to take down Regirock after Aggron had taken a good go at him, but Registeel had made short work of him. He was left with just his last Pokemon to take down both Registeel and Regice, and the thought made him feel nauseated.

"Registeel, go right in with Iron Head!" Brandon didn't leave Paul a second to collect himself, so he knew he'd have to power on through. "Still think your power comes from your will, Paul?"

"Torterra, catch him with Frenzy Plant!" Paul didn't have time to respond to Brandon's pointed question, and pushed forwards. Torterra lifted his legs high, arching back, and landed solidly onto the gym floor. As Registeel approached, thick, heft vines covered in sharp thorns flew up through the ground and grasped the golem Pokemon tightly. For a moment, Torterra was in control. "Throw him to the ground, and follow up with an earthquake, double speed!" Torterra was sluggish, not as deft as he was in the days of being a Turtwig, but he mustered everything he had to lift himself again as quickly as he could, throwing himself down at the same time that Registeel hit the floor, shaking the Pyramid in a devastatingly powerful quake. Paul let out a long breath, his fist unfurling.

Registeel stood again, without much hassle. Paul hissed between his teeth.

"No." Brandon's cry echoed across the pitch. "You were so caught up in pulling off your move, and focusing on your speed," he frowned. "You didn't even hear me call out Iron Defence, did you?"

Paul deemed it not worth the effort it would take to reply.

"Torterra, stone edge!" There was no time for planning, Registeel could take them out in only a handful of hits, and Paul didn't want to give him the time. Spitting out the rock fragments that had been aimed at him only half an hour ago, Paul's eyes narrowed as they flew towards Registeel.

"Zap cannon." Brandon seemed bored, all of a sudden. The rock disintegrated as the orb of electricity swam past it. Crackling delightedly, the attack hit Torterra head on. Paul hunched his shoulders.

"Energy ball!" Paul moved on relentlessly. Torterra fired off orbs of his own, green and shimmering as they flew towards Registeel.

"Force palm!" There was no sense of urgency left in the Pyramid Kind. Energy ball was rendered useless. "Follow up with iron head again!"

"F-Frenzy-!" It was too late, and Registeel slammed into the side of Torterra, toppling him. Paul froze for a moment, unsure how to respond.

"Finish this," Brandon purred. "Hyper beam."

Another amber light, another collision, and Paul returned his sixth Pokemon.

* * *

Lilycove

* * *

Dropping keys routinely into the bowl on the counter, Madison grunted a little under the weight of the box balanced on her hip. It was full to the brim of cassette tapes and CD discs, loaded with hours upon hours of famous Pokemon battles and lessons in Pokemon training. When Courtney had told her there was training to do, she hadn't realised she'd meant quite so literally.

For a moment, Madison lingered. The box sat on the floor, and she sprawled across a somewhat threadbare sofa, thinking fondly of home. Kalos was a million years away from Hoenn. Laverre City felt so distant. But with no family to return to, visiting felt somewhat pointless. Sitting upright in her seat, she let out a long, weary groan. An alarm on her wrist watch buzzed noisily, and she silenced it with a few clumsy, badly aimed slaps, before pulling herself to her feet and beginning to route through her kitchen cupboards. Her flat was small and cramped, with cheap, badly made furniture, but it was a place of her own and it was a space to feel safe in. Taking two small white tablets from a clear plastic box, she dry swallowed them with the ease of muscle memory and grunted at the taste. One of her pokeballs hummed in her pocket, and she tapped it without thinking.

Immediately it was apparent that Ninetails had not appeared to keep her company. The white fox Pokemon flicked her many tails pointedly, leaping up onto the sofa that Madison had once inhabited, and then pawed it carefully. It damaged the fabric, but apparently this was a requirement before Ninetails felt comfortable, and it wasn't long before she settled down to stretch out for a nap.

"Thanks for the pep talk, kiddo." Madison's sarcastic tone didn't go unpunished; Ninetails pointedly began to chew the end of the armrest, glaring at her daringly.

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

"You've clearly been training hard," Brandon offered quietly. Paul gathered his things together, reluctant to say much to him. "You have improved a lot, since we met in the Ruins of Alph."

"Not enough." Paul spoke through gritted teeth. "Next time."

"For someone so reluctant to admit emotional attachment to things," Brandon tested quickly, "you sure let a lot of your actions be driven by emotions."

"You don't really know me well enough to judge." Paul shrugged his bag over his shoulder and ran his thumb along his belt, counting the pokeballs there. "See you next time."

"I know you better than you give me credit for." Brandon snorted, stepping after him. Paul ignored him. "No." The firm distaste in the word made Paul pause for a moment, and with a grunt he looked over his shoulder. "You may refuse to acknowledge me, but you will not disrespect me."

"You've given me plenty reason to respect your ability." Paul turned away again, not comfortable with the direction the conversation was headed in. It was best to get out now. "But I've no reason to respect you as a person." Brandon didn't say anything for a moment, apparently quite wounded by his words. Paul made moves to leave, adjusting his bag as he headed for the pyramid exit.

"Where do you think your strength as a trainer comes from?" Brandon asked lightly. "Is it your will? Is that what you still believe?"

"What do you care?" Paul snapped, glaring over his shoulder.

"Maybe you should rethink," Brandon offered deftly. "I recently had a batch of research passed to me by a friend; the work of his grandson. It mostly concerns Archeology, but there is some work there on the Regi's and their various temples."

"And?" Somehow, Paul didn't see how he should care.

"I could call, and ask if you could spend some time studying his research. He has some potential; however, it is somewhat basic, which is to be expected of someone applying to study at university." Brandon shrugged. "However, it would be perfect for someone who needed to learn more about their origins. Perhaps it would be a wise move to research the Pokemon you are struggling to best."

"Why are you offering to help me?" Paul snorted dismissively. "Do you want me to beat you?"

"You can claim your disinterest in being my son all you want," Brandon replied snidely. "But surprisingly, as a father I'd still like to see you succeed."

* * *

Pallet Town

* * *

Slurping noisily, the strings of ramen slipped messily into her mouth, splattering a little broth onto her upper lip as she smacked them together, swallowing faster than she could chew. Ash was making similar noises next to her, his chopsticks moving deftly, with the speed only muscle memory could provide. Pikachu had given up on communicating with either of them, and had taken to napping upon the top of the television set, his tail twitching occasionally with his dreams. They sat side by side, staring at the screen in front of them in mute fascination as Axel the Marine Biologist explained in a hushed, excited whisper the kind of processes that a Feebas went through before it could become a Milotic.

 _There are qualities to vitamins found a particular strain of berries, dry in taste, that bring a certain quality to the tan coloured scales you see here. If we examine below his fins, just here…_

"Hey losers." The front door to Ash's childhood home opened, without the formalities of knocking or announcing an arrival, and Gary sauntered inside, crashing himself between the former travelling companions and sticking his feet up onto a coffee table. "Hey, you started Axel without me."

"We didn't know you were coming," May pointed out briskly. Ash snorted, taking another mouthful.

"There's food in the kitchen if you want it," Ash mumbled through his food messily, but coherantly from years of practice. Gary wrinkled his nose.

"Did you make it or did Delia make it?" His nose was a little wrinkled as he spoke. Ash rolled his eyes.

"Mom." As soon as Ash had spoken, Gary jumped back up to his feet.

"Ah, score." He went over the sofa back rather than around it, and scurried through to where the rest of the homemade ramen lay waiting in a large serving pot. "Where is your mom anyway?"

"She went to the corner shop," May called after him, smiling somewhat deviously. "Hey, don't eat all the rest of the ramen. It's good stuff."

"What for?" Gary paused, sticking his head back through. "Delia is the most organised woman in the world, I can't imagine her ever needing to go round to the corner shop." Ash turned to him gravely.

"May broke my Mom." His words were solemn and sad. Coughing on her ramen for a moment, May shot him a glare.

"Oh , because you had nothing to do with it, right Ash?" She scowled. Ash opened his mouth to protest, but closed it fairly quickly.

"You cleared out Delia?" Gary gave a low whistle, before laughing to himself. "That hasn't happened since Ashy's seventh birthday, you really must have taken her by storm May. Delia is always prepared." He scuttled off to retrieve his serving of food.

"Enough talk," May silenced them with an aggressive wave of her chopsticks. "Axel." Axel's Hoenn based show, 'Water way to Live', had been cult viewing in Hoenn, and subsequently all of the Napaj regions, for the past three years. Expert Marine Zoologist, Dr Axel Cameron, showcased his encyclopedic knowledge on water type Pokemon and their habitats. A recent PHd Graduate and a very young, attractive face made him both accessible and an engaging authority on his subject, and he drew in people of all ages to his show. He explored coral reefs, deep ocean caverns, swamp like forests and arctic caves. When he came to a city or town to explore their lakes and ponds, there would be hardcore fans lining the streets, sharing pictures and rumors about him on their blogs, swapping selfies and gossip. It was needless to say Axel ruled every home's living room between the hours of eight and nine, every Thursday evening.

"So how's the lab?" Ash ignored her. "Anything interesting?"

"Nothing much." Gary returned, stepping over them to reclaim his center seat, meticulously scooping the noodles onto his chopsticks. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment. "Got a call from someone sending a trainer over to look at my research, which was a first. Other than that, nothing fun."

"Oh, cool!" Ash grinned, excited. "Do you know who it is? Man, sounds like you're getting well known for your stuff!"

"Naturally," Gary preened. He rolled one shoulder back for a second, as though trying to work out some tension. "He should be here in a few days. I'll try and help him, but I just don't know if he'll pick it up all that quick. It's pretty complex stuff."

"Of course it is," Ash puffed his cheeks out, irritated by his smug grin. "You never change."

"Boys, shush." May hissed at them a little. "Axel. Precious, precious Axel."

"When does he get here then?" Ash continued to ignore her. Gary stifled an amused grin.

"Day after tomorrow, I think." He shrugged. May seemed to hear that, and finally clicked into their conversation.

"Aw!" She stuck her lower lip out. "But I'll have gone on to Pewter by then! I won't get to meet them!"

"You could always hang around?" Ash offered optimistically, but May shook her head, sighing a little.

"Nah, I really gotta get moving. Can't keep the gang waiting too long, yaknow?" She snorted. "I swear me and Harley are the only ones with a sense of adventure. Drew and Sol will just want to travel and do the same contests again and again…" she trailed off. "And Harley might be a little too outlandish, even for me."

"It's Harley and I," Gary corrected, quirking an eyebrow at her to tempt a reaction.

"You're outlandish too?" May blinked at him blankly. "I wouldn't have guessed. You seem kinda clean cut for that." Gary opened his mouth as if to correct her, but then closed it, and decided to smile at her obligingly instead.


	4. Growing Up: Eighteen and Nineteen

**Growing up: Eighteen and Nineteen**

* * *

Dewford Town

* * *

"Are you really sure this is necessary?" Drew was not always a big fan of May's Expeditions. Granted, it sometimes lead to rare pokemon sightings, or interesting locations to train, and so frequently he allowed her to badger him into accompanying her. But more often than not, it lead to getting lost in dense woodlands with dead PokeNavs, or someone (May) falling over something (her feet) and needing to be half carried back to the Pokemon Center. Drew was not confident with close contact with May. This was not a situation he needed repeating.

Regardless, May turned to him with an excited gleam to her big blue eyes, and her hand snapped across to grab his wrist. The fabric of her fingerless gloves was warm. He blinked, hoping she couldn't see the red colour building around the top of his ears.

"Where's your sense of adventure, Drew?" She challenged bravely, her free arm brandished forwards in an exaggerated display of heroism. "Come on, I haven't explored Granite Cave since my very first contest season, and it was so exciting! I met Steven Stone and everything!"

"You met the Hoenn Champion?" Drew scoffed. "May, telling tall tales won't convince me this is a good idea."

"I'm _not_ telling tales, and it's a _great_ idea." She pulled a face, sticking her tongue out at him childishly. "Besides, I didn't realise he was the champion until much much later. He was having time off then, wasn't he?"

"Alright then May." Rolling his eyes, Drew sauntered past her, pulling her arm from her grip and shoving his hands in his trouser pockets. He heard her huff behind him. Smirking, he looked over his shoulder long enough to irritate her further. "Whatever you want to believe."

"I did meet him!" She insisted in a whine, catching up to him with and shoving his shoulder lightly. "Ash and Brock and Max - they were all there too! They'll back me up!"

"Sometimes, I think your brain exists in a different time plane to the rest of the world." He offered her a teasing grin, and she silenced. They'd been rivals for about eight years or so now, and friends for about seven. She knew him well enough to know when his mockery was lighthearted. Dewford was as beautiful as it had been in May's memories, with beautiful golden sand caught under the blistering hot sun. They'd set off from the main hub of Dewford Town some time ago, and although it could be made out in the distance behind them, they now walked near the cliff faces and rock formations that lead the way towards Granite Cave. May was full of all sorts of stories of the danger and thrills she'd encountered there when she was ten, and Drew was not enamoured with the prospect of getting lost in this apparently dangerous cave.

But there was a part of him that didn't mind the thought of being lost with her.

The years had been kind to May, and Drew wasn't blind to it. He wasn't sure if he'd ever been blind to her. There was something in the lilt of her voice, and the grace in her clumsy kindness, and the sheer force of her will. There was something in the blue of her eyes, and the blush in her skin, and the quirk of her lips. It was how she bit her lip and clenched her jaw when she was thinking through a battle plan, or how whenever her smile stretched far enough, her face wrinkled in dimples and creases that Harley mocked her for, but Drew could only see it as endearing.

There was just something about May. And he'd spent eight long years trying to pinpoint exactly what it was.

The cave entrance was beginning to open up before them. Giggling in apparent excitement, May scrambled ahead, her fanny pack nearly coming loose with the force of her bouncing forwards. Drew cocked an eyebrow at her, but followed obligingly. The entrance seemed little more than a vast, gaping hole in the masses of rock and boulder ahead of them, but a small warning sign nearby dutifully informed Drew she'd somehow remembered the way correctly. He was almost impressed.

"Here!" She wasted no time, sprinting forwards and pulling him along with her. There was no hesitation as she plunged them into relative darkness after the intense brightness of the Hoenn summer sun, and it took Drew a moment for his eyes to adjust to the limited light of the cavern. May seemed to have little issue, but he had to blink for a second and make sure he was stepping in the right place so to not trip up. "Come on, keep up!"

"You're gonna kill me one day, Maple," Drew groaned. There were two main paths; one seemed to plummet into deeper, darker territories and the other seemed more like a simple, easy slope downwards, with a somewhat ominous opening at the bottom. It did not take long for Drew to have a preference.

"Which way dya want to go first?" May's voice implied a level of compliance, but he could see her staring at the more worrisome of the pathways.

"Maybe this way." Drew didn't flinch as he made his way towards the milder slope. He could practically hear May pouting. "We can always explore down the other pathway later."

"Fine," May sulked, falling into step with him reluctantly. "But we are exploring the other way later. That's the way I went last time, and we saw-"

"May, if I hear any more stories of your old incompetent travelling companions, I am going to abandon you in this cave." It was an empty threat and she knew it, but she resigned herself to the comfortable silence they often fell into and examined the cave walls surrounding them as they made their way further down the slope.

It got steeper, and morphed slowly into a stairwell formed out of dirt and human footprint. It became a little less steady and a little weaker underfoot, and Drew felt a surge of relief he'd brought Flygon with him, so if it was needed later, they could fly back up rather than scale a nearly vertical wall. There was light at the bottom though, which seemed odd. They were travelling further and further underground, and he couldn't think of a natural source of light to be found anywhere under here. May seemed equally puzzled, and she send him inquisitive, curious glances with furrowed brows and questioning smiles. She was used to him having the logical explanation that she had missed. He shrugged at her, before offering his arm to help her down a particularly deep step. She didn't take it, and hopped down with surprising ease, her feet finding footholds quite naturally. He blinked back a smile.

Another entrance formed ahead of them, and as the floors evened out and they were back on flat land, making their way through, it was easier to make out the torches that were lit in the distance. Drew frowned for a moment, surprised.

"Someone else is here," he observed. May gave him a cautious glance. It was probably just a tourist, or someone studying the ruins, or even just someone training for the Dewford Gym. But there had been sightings of Team Magma widespread throughout Hoenn, and ever since the incident with Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon back a few years ago, the region was constantly a little on edge. There had been media frenzies, pushing stories of Team Magma's appearances to the point of occasional public hysteria. It was hard not to feel a little cautious. Drew had Roserade's pokeball in hand, and May had Blaziken's in hers. They approached a little more apprehensively. They entered into a new room, with impossibly high ceilings and patches of light where suspended burning torches flickered. Drew cast May an unsure look. The torches couldn't have been lit for long. She let out a long breath, but gave him an easy smile, and made a show of pocketing her pokeball and striding forwards. Drew scowled. She always had been too trusting.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed in the empty room. "Is someone here?" There was the grunt of a Pokemon turning in surprise. She didn't recognise it immediately, and took out her Pokedex, ready to scan the red and yellow humanoid pokemon that wandered into view. It watched her curiously.

 _Magmortar, the Blast Pokemon. It blasts fireballs of over 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit out of its arms. Its breath also sears and sizzles._

"A Magmortar?" Drew frowned again. "We're nowhere near a volcano, and the Magmar family isn't native to Hoenn."

"It'll belong to whoever lit up these torches then." May hardened her resolve, and turned to him with a smile. "If it's not native to Hoenn, then we can guess it wouldn't belong to a criminal organisation based in Hoenn, right?"

"Wrong," Drew countered, staring at her in disbelief as she hurried on thoughtlessly. "That's so wrong. May, people other than you have left the region before. I can't tell you how dumb an assumption that is, even for you."

"You worry too much!" She laughed airily, no longer concerned. "Come on, ya big Slowpoke! I want to see more of this room!" Growing more concerned, he hurried after her, somewhat in disbelief of her frivolous attitude towards safety. The back of the room was hard to make out, but it was clear there were intricate markings high in the ceiling, platformed by another staircase and clearing, almost as though it was built to be a shrine. There was the shadowy outline of someone stood looking up at the walls, but with only the firelight from the torches and the height of the stairs, they was hard to make out.

May took the stairs two at a time, pulled in by the excitement of the shrine and the mystery of the person atop it. Drew followed close behind, wanting to keep up pace with her inexplicable eager speed. If she was going to throw herself into trouble, he at least wanted to be there to help bail her out of it. As the figure grew clearer, her face became furrowed in confusion while Drew noticeably relaxed. It just seemed like another regular trainer. There was no absurd red or blue uniform to give away the presence of something more sinister. He slowed a little, somewhat breathless from the rapid ascent of stairs, while May was only spurred onward. The trainer turned towards them as they grew nearer, dispassionate at their arrival. May exhaled hard, her exertion catching up with her. Drew couldn't identify anything familiar about the trainer. He had lilac hair, or grey, or somewhere in between. It was hard to tell in their limited lighting. But he didn't recognise him at all, so he didn't see why May would.

"Paul." His name left her mouth in almost a pant, and the trainer stared at her for a moment. "It's been, what, nine years?" He didn't respond immediately, taking a moment to stare her down and contemplate a response. There was something in a twitch of his fingers that gave him away, but Drew couldn't be sure.

"You recognise someone you haven't seen in nine years?" Drew glanced at her incredulously. "Is that even logical?"

"I've seen him battle on tv a few times since then," May retorted defensively, sparing Drew a cursory glance. Paul cocked an eyebrow at this admission.

"I don't remember you" he stated firmly, and May nearly laughed. "Who are you?"

"Of course you don't." May nodded, smiling obligingly. "You said that last time, too. I don't really know if you mean it though." Paul blinked at her, but he didn't give much away by facial expression. May's smile grew. "Petalburg Gym. It was your third gym challenge. I was the girl in the pink shirt."

"I don't recall." His response was stiff and measured, and May knew immediately it was a lie. "I'm going to return to my training elsewhere. Excuse me."

"Oh, come on!" May pouted, and as he moved around her to head down the stairs her arm shot forward reflexively and caught his sleeve, pulling him so he had to turn over his shoulder to face her. Her eyes narrowed, and her teeth bared in a grin. "How about a battle, Paul? Wanna see if you can beat the clueless daughter of Petalburg Gym?"

"I don't need to battle you to know if I'd beat you." His words were cool and precise, but apparently exactly what May wanted to hear, and she stepped closer to him, silently daring him to walk away.

"Battle me." She insisted, and he had no real reason to say no. So instead, he shrugged, nodded, and continued his walk down the rest of the stairs. He never gestured for her to follow, but she knew it was implied, and she hopped after him, no longer exhausted.

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

The small red ball flew through the air, and the sound of rubber hitting gloved hands echoed in the steely office space. Madison sat in Courtney's desk chair while it's owner paced the room, occasionally pausing to stare at her corkboard full of papers and pins and diagrams. Each time she would frown. Catching the ball, Madison quickly threw it back, and then Courtney caught it with ease regardless of where in the room it was.

"I can't talk to you about it without clearance." Courtney stated monotonously. "I'm not allowed."

"I know." Madison caught the ball again, and tossed it to herself for a moment while she watched Courtney swivel on her heel.

"I want to bounce ideas off you." Courtney's voice never rose or fell. "I need to process this information and it's difficult."

"I know." The Kalosian girl went for an overarm throw, and Courtney caught it effortlessly without even looking. "How do you do that?"

"Physics." Madison didn't understand her reply. "How am I supposed to…"

"For the love of all that is good, Courtney stop." Letting her head roll over the back of the desk chair, her hair tumbled out of her uniform as it flew out behind her. "We've been over this like a million times."

"We've been over it three times," Courtney corrected dryly. "But I appreciate that you're embellishing for dramatic flair and effect."

"If you want to talk to me about it, talk." Madison ignored the comment. "There's no recording equipment in here, the office is soundproof and the door has a lock. We've discussed classified stuff before. However, if you really feel like you can't discuss it with me, go talk to Maxie about it." Madison caught the ball again, though she had to stretch out over the side of her chair to reach it. Courtney never misjudged a throw. Madison frowned. "Court, in the two years I've been your second, not once have you ever paced."

"I'm aware." Courtney didn't look at her. "Throw the ball."

"But you're not talking," Madison pressed. "We throw the ball when you're talking."

"I'm internally talking," Courtney compromised. "I'm discussing the classified information in my head, with me. I just need you to go through the motions of talking. Throw the ball."

"Yes Ma'am." Madison put a bit of spin on it, but Courtney nearly crushed it in her hand when she caught it, her fingers pressing into the rubber and leaving it to bulge in her hand.

* * *

Dewford Town

* * *

"Electivire, stand by for battle!" Paul called forward the Thunderbolt Pokemon, and he leapt forward in the white light of his pokeball keenly. Electivire enjoyed a good battle. May paused, thumbing over the pokeballs in her bag carefully. Electivire looked stronger than any pokemon she'd faced in battle before. She took a moment to check her Pokedex entry for him, and take a long hard look at the anatomy of the humanoid pokemon. Drew watched her awkwardly from the side, halfheartedly refereeing their battle. Reluctantly, he gestured to her that she needed to hurry up a little.

"Blaziken," she didn't really have any other option, "take the stage!" She tossed the pokeball high, spinning as she did in her signature call out. It was usually reserved for contest battles, but she needed the momentum it gave her. Paul snorted, immediately dismissive. However, as Blaziken emerged, he could appreciate the strength in his legs and the time that would have gone into training what appeared to be a relatively powerful pokemon for a coordinator's team.

"If you're quite finished twirling," Paul grunted, "Electivire, start with Electric Terrain."

"Blaziken, get right in there with Brick Break!" May ignored Paul's command all together, not wanting to give him the time to set up any big advantages. Blaziken flew forward, proud of his speed, and slammed a glowing, powerful arm into Electivire's shoulder while he was still lowering his arms to the ground preparing to charge it with power. Paul didn't flinch, and neither did Electivire. Blaziken jumped back. There was a graze across Electivire's shoulder, but no other sign that any damage had been taken. "No way, it's so strong!" May was a little breathless.

"As you were." Paul's voice was full of self assurance and snide superiority. Electivire seemed to mimic it in a smirk, and deliberately took his time in supercharging the room they were in. May began to grind her teeth together. She wasn't one to be patronised.

"Blaziken, get right back in there with Blaze Kick! Aim from above!" There was no time to waste. Blaziken showcased his powerful legs, shooting off into the sky and twisting slightly through the air, before aiming carefully at Electivire and dropping back down at a great speed, flames spiralling about his foot and leaving embers fading in their path. Drew hummed appreciatively.

"You've made an aggressive move look impressive." He nodded. "Not bad." Paul had to try hard to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"Electivire, Thunder Punch!" He wasn't concerned about going too much on the defensive today. May narrowed her eyes, watching closely. Electivire pulled back his arm, letting it graze the floor and supercharged with energy from Electric Terrain, and it began to swing forward just as Blaziken approached for impact.

"Now!" She called, interrupting the attack. "Kick off, and bounce back!" Blaziken was grinning as he dropped his foot directly onto the Thunder Punch Electivire threw at him, and pushed off it, flying higher and with more power than before. Paul paused for a moment, wanting to see the outcome. The controlled spiral of flames around Blaziken's foot had been concentrated enough to protect him from the charge of electricity, and it was flying towards them again with invigorated strength. Despite himself, he nodded.

"Protect." Her Blaziken was strong, but not that strong. May winced as Blaziken bounced off the blue shield that suddenly appeared around Electivire and was sent back to stand by her trainer. "These flashy contest moves of yours aren't as strong as you think."

"How did you know I was a coordinator?" May pressed, her lips quirking into a smile. Paul chose not to reply.

"You knew that was coming?" He was referring to the Thunder Punch. May shook her head.

"I've never battled an Electivire before," she told him honestly. "But the Pokedex entry for him talks about the electric charge in his tails. I presumed you'd strike back with one of those. Using a fist worked better though, it was easier for Blaziken to bounce off." Paul paused, thinking her thought process through. "I learnt about checking physical characteristics of Pokemon by watching you battle Dad."

"Electivire," Paul continued, shoving a hand into his jacket pocket, dismissing the conversation. "Thunder." May paused, knowing she had to think fast. The strength of that Electivire, matched with the power of a Thunder attack and the boost from Electric Terrain all meant a bad time for Blaziken. She glanced around the huge empty cavern they battled in. There had to be something.

"Jump high, again," May attempted quickly. "Try and keep away from the electricity in the ground. Keep as high up as you can!" Blaziken agreed quickly, bending at the knee and shooting off into the air, bouncing between walls to keep himself airborne. May bit her lip. It was the only defense she could think of, and could only hope the power of the thunder would be weakened by the time it reached him.

"You've made a mistake," Paul told her crisply, and she screwed her eyes shut for a second. The thunderous attack released, and crackled as it sliced through the air towards the top of the cavern. "You can tell my Electivire is strong. Strong enough to fill this whole cavern with electricity if he wanted to, especially with Electric Terrain."

"I couldn't stay grounded because of the Electric Terrain though, it would have been worse on ground," May justified meekly, flinching deeply as the powerful blast of electricity began to course through her partner. Paul shrugged, unaffected.

"Better than the impact of falling?" His lips stretched into a smirk. "Let's see how you cope with this. Electivire, follow up with a Thunder Punch as he comes to land."

"Blaziken, no!" May felt her heart stop for a moment. It was too much; she couldn't let her pokemon suffer like that. But there was no way she could give up now, not when she'd finally gotten the chance to battle him. Her hands balled into fists. She had to think of some way of Blaziken being able to power through that Thunder attack and rally by the time he hit the ground, so he could counter and continue to battle. Once again, she glanced around the room furiously, and her eyes fell upon the shrine at the back of the room. It depicted Groudon and Kyogre, and the beginnings of Hoenn. It was beautiful, engraved right into the rock wall that made up the cavern, and spread around the whole room in delicate, swirling marks. Rayquaza's tail stretched across the ceiling and twisted around above them.

Blaziken was plummeting fast. If he wasn't ready to respond, there was nothing she could do. She was quiet as Electivire's fist made contact with her already dangerously injured pokemon, throwing him back across the room towards her, leaving him to collide with the cavern wall, right under an engraving of Kyogre's worshipers. May let out a pained gasp, hating to see her companion in pain.

"Blaziken!" Her voice came out in a desperate, shrill cry. "Are you alright?" It was too much to stomach. There was so much more to them as battlers than this, but they couldn't compete with his ridiculous strength and overwhelming power. There was no way to counter it if you didn't have the strength to take it head on. Blaziken pulled himself out of the wall, brought to his knees a little. He stared up at May for a moment, viciously angry. He didn't like to be toyed with, especially not by someone who underestimated him. It was a trait he and May shared. "Can you continue?" Her starter nodded. May knew even if she had tried to recall him, he wouldn't have let her. "Alright, let's go!"

"A good trainer knows when to quit," Paul snorted, shaking his head from side to side. "What possible motivation do you have to continue? There's no way you'll win."

"Not all battles are about winning!" May slammed one of her feet into the ground, staring him down. Paul paused, folding his arms across his chest and offering her a vague, authoritative smirk. It infuriated her. Blaziken leapt forward to stand by her side, and the two of them stood together, observing him with focused, impenetrable eyes.

"You're just as clueless as ever." Paul shook his head, almost pityingly. "Pathetic. Electivire, finish this with Thunder Punch."

"Blaziken, don't let him touch you!" May's voice cracked a little. The charge of electricity running through the ground was making the room dusty, and it was starting to catch in her throat and make her eyes water. "You're faster than him; keep moving!" May knew that Blaziken was weakened, but that had never stopped them pulling out all the stops before. Years of contest experience had given Blaziken deft, quick feet, and he dodged gracefully, slipping between punch after punch and ducking under every attack. Slowly, the trainer from Sinnoh grew bored.

"Thunder." Paul wanted to end it.

"No!" May wouldn't let him. "Close range overheat, go!"

Blaziken was already right up by Electivire from dodging another hit, and threw out a powerful roar of flames before Paul could blink. There wasn't even time to form the usual orb of white hot embers they usually created before unleashing, simply a furious blast of fire that took Electivire by surprise, pushing him backwards and sending off billows of smoke as Electivire's fur became singed. Paul scowled. Electivire could survive with a burn condition. As soon as the flurry of fire disintegrated, Electivire flew forward without instruction from Paul, landing a Thunder Punch straight in Blaziken's jaw and throwing him down onto his back again.

"Electivire," Paul chastised quietly. His pokemon huffed his acknowledgement. Slowly, painfully, Blaziken peeled himself off from the ground, staring up at his opponent bitterly. May hissed between her teeth. They couldn't take very much more, but Blaziken wasn't going to quit, and neither was she. Paul was just getting ready to call out one final attack, lifting a finger in the lofty point that was burned into her memory like the engravings in the shrine, but he never did. He paused, his eyes growing wide as Blaziken screeched out a short breath of fire and fury, the bracelets of embers at his wrist flaring hotter, his eyes glowing darker, and his fur bristling with anticipation. He was almost glowing.

"Blaze!" May gave off an incredulous laugh of relief. "Yes! We're still in this. Come on Blaziken, let's show him how powerful we can really be! Blaze kick!"

"Thunder!" Paul ordered swiftly, suddenly looking much less cocky. "We just need one hit!"

"You're not gonna get it!" May shot back, a surge of confidence tingling up her spine. "I will _not_ be ignored! Blaziken, hit hard and fast!" Thunder shot out towards them, but Blaziken's kick cut right through the electricity and slammed right into Electivire's belly. "Yes!"

"Not a chance," Paul shot back, his fists clenched. "Electivire, grab it!"

"What?" The tails May had previously been were now winding around Blaziken, and while seeming to be significantly weakened, Electivire still bore a wide, smug grin.

"Now!" The thunder that Electivire let out was ground-shaking. Blaziken screeched out in pain, and May couldn't bear the sight of it. As the electricity coursed through her first pokemon and left him writhing in pain, trapped in the super powered, vine like tails, May accepted her defeat. She knew it before Blaziken crashed to the ground, and a bewildered Drew called out the victory.

"Oh, Blaziken, you were so incredible!" The words spilled out of her mouth before she could reach him, before she skidded onto her knees beside him to check his injuries. "You battled so wonderfully, thank you!" Blaziken let out a weak hum next to her, struggling to move much as she rooted through her fanny pack for pain relief for him. There was an awkward stillness as May tended to her pokemon, filling him with hyper potions and cheri berries. As Blaziken seemed to grow a little less weary, she thanked him again, kissing his forehead and returning to his pokeball. Paul recalled Electivire with a quiet nod of thanks.

"You battle very aggressively, and you take pointless risks." Paul's words were cool and cutting, and May screwed her face up for a moment before she stood to address him. Drew stepped forward to meet them, unsure as to what exactly he was approaching.

"After all these years, you still battle like that idiot." He gave an airy, falsely comfortable laugh. May shot him a weary look.

"Ash isn't an idiot," she said quietly, looking at the pokeball in her hand. "He's the best battler I know."

"...Ash." Paul's face uncharacteristically cracked, creasing in disbelief.

"Oh! Of course, you battled him!" May's eyes shot to his, suddenly brightening. "You battled him at the Lily of the Valley Conference in Sinnoh, years and years ago. Do you remember him?"

"Vaguely." Paul's eye twitched perceptibly. May nodded, smiling.

"I watched the battle from Johto," she explained deftly. "Ash taught me how to battle, and how to raise Pokemon. He traveled with me for the first few years of my journey. I watched him compete here in Hoenn, and when he took on the Battle Frontier in Kanto."

"You saw…" Paul's face hardened again, becoming stony and impassive. He did not finish his sentence, and May quirked an eyebrow.

"You know," she suddenly took on a singsong, knowing tone that immediately irritated him. "You said something during our battle. Something about me being just as clueless as ever? Kind of implies…" May's eyes flashed. "You remember me."

"I don't have time to waste talking to you any longer." Paul strode around her, snorting derisively as he made his way for the exit. "Your Blaziken needs training, kid."

"... Kid." May paused for a moment, her face relaxing. "You do remember." Her voice softened, and she hummed to herself, pleased. She watched him leave, content with what little confirmation she had of that. Turning on her heel, she smiled at Drew wearily. "I'm tired. Do you want to go back to the center?"

"It's up to you," Drew muttered disinterestedly, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't find it in himself to look at her. "I don't mind."

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

"It's been causing Maxie a lot of grief." Courtney sighed into her hands a little, her elbows propping up her face on the desk for a moment. They'd switched places; Madison now paced while Courtney sat at her desk. "And the media push isn't helping."

"Why doesn't Team Aqua get any bad media?" Madison scowled, waiting for Courtney to look up before throwing the ball back. Her superior lifted and dropped her shoulders, not preparing to commit to an answer she wasn't certain of.

"We have suspicions. You'll be one of the first aware if a follow up happens." She sat back, and then gestured for Madison to throw the ball. "It doesn't quite add up. We're missing a piece of information somewhere."

"Then, we need to gather more information." Madison tossed the ball thoughtlessly. "You've been over this data a thousand times…"

"Five, times." Courtney corrected her under her breath.

"And you've not seen any root cause for the sudden emergence of Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. Honestly, the whole situation makes so little sense." Madison frowned. "Why near Rustboro? What was the gem that called on Rayquaza? What happened to it?"

"We had our best hackers go through the leagues records on the events." Courtney pursed her lips, turning the ball over in her hand. "Steven Stone, the Champion of Hoenn, was involved. The incident started up just as his sabbatical from the League ended. He reported that the stone was said to have links to mega evolution, and also that Rayquaza had been guarding it. A group in Kalos took control of the stone briefly, but once it was ascertained it was being used for non-peaceful efforts, it was recovered and returned to Hoenn. Steven did not write in the report where it is now kept."

"Mega evolution." Madison hummed, unsure. "Perhaps that has something to do with the primal reversion that Maxi is trying to investigate?"

"Perhaps." Courtney pushed out her lower lip. "Mega evolution gives off energy. What we don't know, is if primal reversion has the same effect, or whether it absorbs energy." She tilted her head to the side. "Mega evolution requires key stones, and mega stones. I wonder if it's possible to create the effects of primal reversion through similar methods."

"Then the information you need is obvious." Madison quirked her lips into a smile. "You need information on whether there were any minerals or materials that have a reaction of sorts to Groudon. Maybe that stone was something to do with it - an artifact that created a reaction within the two titan pokemon."

"We need more information on any relics from the Terrian Tribe." Courtney sat up in her seat. "We need to know if there's an object that can act as a mega stone. Once we've studied such an object, we can learn how to control it. To bring Groudon forwards and leave Kyogre undisturbed."

"We just need to know what to look for." Madison flashed her a grin. "Who's the leading academic on the Terrian Tribe? I think we need to take a look at their research."

* * *

Dewford Town

* * *

She was staring out the window again, her spoon stirring noncommittally around her mug as she looked out at the shore. The Pokemon Center cafe had a good view of the ocean, and May seemed drawn to it. Every time there was a lull in conversation, her eyes would flicker outwards to watch the moon reflected on the choppy waves of the sea. Occasionally, she would sigh deeply, like she was lost in some uncharacteristically ardent thought. Drew cleared his throat, again, and she snapped back to him, her cheeks tinted red as she laughed awkwardly, apologising.

"Are you worried about the contest tomorrow?" He asked politely. "You seem out of it."

"No, it'll be fine. I'll cream ya, no big deal." Flashing him a grin to try and placate him, May took a sip from her hot chocolate, holding her mug in both hands.

"Then, are you worried about Blaziken?" Drew knew May better than to be derailed by a faux smile, and May huffed a little, blowing her fringe out of her face. "He took a real beating today."

"Nah, Nurse Joy said he's okay, he just needs rest. And I'm using Beautifly tomorrow, so Nurse Joy said she'd keep him here during the contest if it was a concern." May shrugged. "It's not, but I'll let him stay here with Chansey anyway. Just to be safe."

"It was a good battle." Drew had obviously decided her loss had been weighing on her mind, and May nearly laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous, I knew I was gonna lose before I challenged him!" May giggled carelessly. "I've watched Paul in every Pokemon League he's competed in since I watched the Lily of the Valley, back in Johto. I always look up the entry names and find which one he's entered in that year. It's a little ritual of mine."

"You're a fan of his?" Drew deadpanned. "What, do you have a crush on him or something?"

"You're still being ridiculous," May scoffed. "No, he just…" Words suddenly became difficult to form in her mouth. She'd never tried to explain her fascination with Paul before, and now when it came to it, it became an incredibly difficult thing to do. "I'm not sure. He challenged my Dad's gym before I went on my journey."

"So you saw him win a badge or something?" Drew couldn't hide the inquisitive flash behind his own mug of tea. He was painfully curious, and May was growing uncharacteristically awkward with stringing together sentences.

"I saw him lose." May smiled, mostly to herself. "I saw a flash of something… of someone with something to prove. And then I saw him get stronger." Drew couldn't figure out what to say next to carry on the conversation, or to pull it away from Paul, who he was beginning to feel a little frustrated with. May began to stare out the window again, the stars catching in her eyes. "I wonder if he got as strong as he wanted to be?"

"He's pretty powerful." Drew's voice came out in a reluctant snipe. "But I'm not sure that's the same definition as strong."

"No, I'm not either." May's voice was moony and distant, and Drew felt a sudden surge of something angry in his chest.

"Well, it doesn't matter." He was beginning to get short with her, but even then May didn't seem to register it. "I guess I'll see you at the contest tomorrow. I hope you're ready to lose, you can't expect Beautifly to carry you all the way past a top coordinator, now can you?"

"We'll see." May didn't move her eyes from the window. Drew took up abruptly, pulling his chair out in a jagged, aggressive swipe, and May jumped back to attention, blinking at him apologetically.

"So you are still alive in there." Drew snorted. "It's hard to tell sometimes. I'm going to bed."

"O-Oh. Right." She stood up as well, moving her chair clumsily away from her and dithering slightly. "Sorry, I think I'm just a bit tired today."

"Right." He let out a short breath, but softened. "I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, wanna meet in the lobby and head down to the Contest Hall together?" May offered him a reconciliatory grin. "After the contest tomorrow I don't know when I'll see you next, it'd be nice to catch up." Drew raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure if she was totally aware those were almost the exact words she'd used to convince him to come to Granite Cave with her.

"Sure. Otherwise I really doubt you'd find the way there." He knew when he was beaten. May brightened, but then scowled, and puffed out her cheeks, ready to retort in some snarky back and forth that they had rehearsed a million times. Pushing himself forwards, he knew he had once ace up his sleeve that was always guaranteed to silence her. He slipped the rose out from the inside of his jacket pocket - he'd had it ready since they'd gotten back from Granite Cave, and pressed it into her fingers delicately. May paused, flushing pink. "For Beautifly, of course. You said she's competing tomorrow."

"Sometimes I think I should just let you hang out with my Pokemon and not with me," May teased, but in a subdued, apprehensive voice. Drew suppressed a laugh, closing his eyes for a second.

"I think you're okay too." Before she could quite fathom his movements, he'd pressed his lips to her cheek, holding the other side of her face gently in the palm of his hand, taking a moment to smooth his thumb reassuringly along her jaw line. It had taken years. Years of awkwardly jerking forwards and backwards, years of infinite support and encouragement from Solidad, years of teasing, flustering comments from Harley, but finally he'd stepped forwards. There was a swell of some kind of pride in his chest. May was silent and unmoving, frozen to the spot. If he'd known it would take a surge of jealousy to take a forward step he'd have let her talk more about her travels with Ash and Brock in the first place.

When he pulled back, her face was a brighter red than her bandanna.

"The lobby, tomorrow morning, right?" He smiled lazily at her, and she nodded stiffly. Her flustered response gave him all the confidence he needed to walk away shamelessly. The hand with which May held the rose she had given him shook. A thorn pressed into her thumb, and a small bubble of blood began to trickle down her palm.

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

"This isn't a plan we can execute without a lot of powerful trainers, and a carefully scripted backup plan." Courtney shot her a warning glance, and Madison nodded. They were pouring over strategy papers together, stringing together some semblance of a plot. "But I think if we take time to prepare, we can execute something pretty cleanly."

"You'll need to take this to Maxie in the morning," Madison told her stiffly, and Courtney glanced at her. Considering the analytical monotone that Courtney held as her staple, Madison understood the significance of it breaking for a moment.

"I am sincerely sorry I cannot give you credit for this." Courtney's lips became tight. "I'll recommend to Maxie that you head part of this mission. It's what we've been training for, anyhow."

"It's okay, Court." Madison smiled. "I didn't have clearance." Over the two years of them working in close quarters, Madison and Courtney had grown closer than Madison had ever anticipated. They were confidants, advisors, sparring partners and friends. They were well known as a duo through the organisation now. It was very rare that anyone beat the doubles combinations of Admin Courtney and her second, Madison. Formalities were often retained when in front of the grunts and other admins, but in private, they would speak openly and freely, unbarred by the structures of their hierarchy.

"If this goes well," Courtney continued, back to her clipped, emotionless tone. "I will be speaking to Maxie again about my recommendation for you to be elevated to Admin status."

"You think he'd be up for it?" Madison arched an eyebrow. Courtney gave a rare smile.

"He's been considering it for a few months now," she spoke candidly. "You heard nothing from me. When you successfully complete a reconnaissance mission with such a high risk, then yes. It's simple to deduce you'll be elevated immediately." Madison took a moment to stare at her lap, her fingers intertwining.

"I never imagined I'd come so far here." Her voice trembled for a moment. "Admins are… practically the seconds to Maxie. That's huge." Courtney paused for a moment, tilting her head to the side as she stared at Madison's face. It was not the first, nor the last time in their friendship that Madison felt like she was being scanned for information.

"Yes." Courtney said nothing else, but returned to her notes. "This will take a lot of planning. This mission is a long way off before we can execute it."

"I understand." Madison shook herself slightly, before turning back to the notes she'd made. "I'll get right into preparations." Courtney looked up again for a moment, before nodding, holding eye contact with her second as she did.

* * *

Dewford Town

* * *

As Beautifly finished her appeal, May presented together with her with a flourish, the shimmering light of their silver wind drifting about them. They curtsied together, and May took one last look at the audience. She had to stop herself from beaming.

"How _did_ he know I was a coordinator?" She mumbled under her breath, her eye catching his for just a moment. Paul made no gesture of acknowledgement, but stood up straight from where he'd been leaning against the back wall of the arena, behind the audience, and left through the fire exit door.


	5. Growing Up: Nineteen and Twenty

**Growing Up: Nineteen and Twenty**

* * *

Route 120

* * *

Rain was not an accurate word to describe the weather. Hoenn's almost tropical climate inevitably led to snap storms and typhoons, where the water was warm as it fell and did not come in drops, but in waves. It was like being in a lukewarm shower on the highest power setting, so thick you could barely see in front of you. But Paul was determined not to be discouraged, and waded through puddles and pushed his way through grass that grew to his shoulders. He'd walked straight into Kecleons that were hidden in the shrubbery, and been driven away from his route by small families of Linoone defending their territory. It would be worth it, he knew, once he eventually found what he was looking for. But the looking had become more than a little cumbersome, so he decided to find shelter for a while to see if the rain would show any signs of passing.

Or rather, his weather impaired vision had led to him skidding down a muddy ridge to the edge of a lake, and shelter had found him in the form of a small opening in the wall.

After guessing it was one of those secret bases some trainers from Hoenn tended to make (he found the whole process ridiculous, and a waste of time) he decided as no one was around he could stay there for a while. There was an unfathomably prominent Skitty doll sticking out from on top of a brick-like shelf, and it seemed to watch him as he moved about, staring him down with black button eyes. He tried not to look at it, which was easy enough in the dark, shadow filled cavern.

This was not the first accidental encounter with a secret base he'd made in the past few months. He'd traveled Hoenn in a way he'd never envisioned himself travelling before; not for the challenge of gym battles or the allure of a battle frontier, but with painstaking care to detail with his surroundings and careful examination of everything he saw. He sat on the floor, rooting through his backpack for a moment to check his belongings were not too waterlogged. He'd had the foresight to wrap his notebook in a plastic bag when he'd set off from Fortree, for which he was smugly grateful to himself. Wiping water off the plastic with his sodden wet sleeve, he unwrapped it and stifled a sneeze in his arm, before beginning to flip through the scribbled notes he'd made through the past few years. He'd started it upon the instruction of Gary Oak, who had told him these kinds of studies were vastly assisted by continuous reflection and reexamination of seemingly innocuous facts. It had certainly helped with his reviewing, and his increased understanding of his research. However, there was no moment when he found information that would aid his battle. There was no legend nor artifact that he could use to inform his battle technique, or aid him in taking down Brandon. It just felt like he was echoing his estranged father's research a little, and that was nothing but infuriating.

Taking a moment, he flipped through the worn, yellowing pages of his pocket book. If he'd followed his sources correctly, there was a ruin site somewhere close to here where Registeel was found, and subsequently one of the Terrian Tribe underground shrines would be around here too. There would be more braille for him to decipher, as there had been so much of before, and more pieces to the puzzles of the Regi Trio and their place in Hoenn's history. He couldn't deny an interest above battling anymore, even if that was his primary focus. There was an understanding of his father's intrigue, at least. Hoenn's supposed (until he had concrete proof, he struggled to believe it in entirety) origin lore was full of conflict, war and passion for strength. Two opposing force dueling for no other reason than to overwhelm the other. There was something magnetic about that kind of story.

A loud grumble of thunder made the base shiver, and a clap of lightning brightened the room for a moment, glowing through the entrance and making the pink Skitty doll glow for a moment, it's black button eyes catching Paul off guard again. He grunted, turning away from it. It was creepily lifelike. But the flash of light had given Paul a clue of what else was in the cavern, and a sudden curiosity made him want to root around a little. He dug a self powering torch out from his bag and sat for a moment with it, spinning a little handle on it for a few moments to generate a little energy to give him some light, and then began to poke around the room.

The whole place was plastered wall to wall with posters and framed photos. It was Pokemon memorabilia mostly, and it didn't take long to notice the owner of this room was a fan of contests. As he stepped around, there were noisy, tuned note mats that rang out every time he took a step, and it wasn't long until he was stepping hard enough to purposefully break them, even if they did cover up some of the unpleasant sounds of the storm outside. His torch lit up a small bed, almost minuscule, and far too small for him. He twenty as of a few months prior, he was taller than most people he knew now and the rest of his body was well proportioned from years of travel and training alongside his Pokemon. More investigating lit up a small television set, also designed to look like a Skitty, and with no electricity in the middle of a mud wall it seemed to be entirely for aesthetic purposes. Paul could have kicked it over, if he hadn't already broken enough of a total stranger's base. The last thing he lit up was a poster, stuck above the bed, with times and dates of the up and coming Grand Festival in Lilycove. Well, up and coming was a generous term for something that would be finishing the next day.

He wasn't far from Lilycove.

It gave him a moment's pause, at least. Since he'd seen her on television in that stupid Wallace Cup in Sinnoh, she kept cropping up in radio interviews being played in shops that he passed through, or replays of contests that seemed to run on repeat whenever he healed his team at a Pokemon Center. Along with the rest of the world he had watched May turn from a scrawny teenage girl into a formidable coordinating force, yet to win her grand title but also yet to be matched in public adoration. The Princess of Hoenn, they called her. If he'd told her she'd hear that when she was nine years old, she would have squealed in delight and pirouetted on the spot.

He hadn't thought much of it, though. While he had been surprised she had held firm to her childish, wild ambitions that she would become something spectacular, he couldn't see why it should concern him all that much. Yet when they had crossed paths those months ago, in Dewford, at the beginning of the training season, she had been so full of insistence and sentiment towards their meeting that it was strangely compelling to observe her. She battled recklessly, and yet with a thoughtfulness and refinement that he'd discovered only came from coordinators, and with a burning destruction the like of which he'd seen before, but only very rarely. The thought of her learning from Ash made him shift uncomfortably, and the thought of her supporting him to succeed against his father only made it worse. He could see her in his mind's eye, cheering as that infuriatingly powerful Pikachu landed a crucial iron tail upon any one of the Regis, and his dopey face cheering in a noisy cacophony of glee.

No. The thoughts of the nine year old girl in the pink shirt learning from that dimwit were not thoughts he enjoyed.

Grunting, annoyed with himself and with the thought of her being somewhat close by, he chanced a glance out the door. The rain didn't sound as harsh as it had earlier, and since the thunder and lightning had seemed to drift on he guessed that the worst of it had moved on. Politely aware that he had damaged some of the base owner's property, he hid a little money underneath the offensive Skitty doll before headed out, back into the refreshingly dry air of Route 120, the sky dark with dusk instead of rain clouds. Now that it was still, the lake before him sat beautifully, reflecting the purple and grey streaks in the sky above like a mirror, dotting out the sparks of new stars like a masterful painting. Pausing, he stared at the water.

No, Lilycove wasn't far at all.

It was late, but he knew he could get there in time for the final if he left then and there. The deep navy of the water was compelling him to take a step towards the seaside town, to leave his research for just one moment and move towards something a little indulgent, but his fist soon tightened next to him, and he found himself leaning back against the mudslide wall, examining his notes in the moonlight.

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

It was with clumsy, shaking hands that May had looped and braided the majority of her hair to the top of her head. Dawn had gifted her with a pretty tiara that she'd sworn she'd never wear back at the last Wallace Cup they'd entered together, and while it seemed a little bit like pandering to her fans, she'd decided that tonight, of all nights, was the night she was allowed to live up to her title. Her dress fanned out in a puff of silvery netting, white undercoats and shimmering, translucent blue fabric on top. It twisted and wove itself around the top half of her body like the foam of the ocean kissing the shore.

The final had been electric. Having beaten out Harley in the first round, Drew in the quarterfinals and Solidad in the semifinals, May had been up against a coordinator she'd never battled before in the final round of the Grand Festival, and so she'd had all of her friends and rivals cheering her on. There was no moment to hold back and consider the implications of winning for the other person; there was only reaching her dream and goal that she'd worked towards for nearly a decade.

A decade. That was how long it had been since she'd decided to leave on her journey. That was how long it had been since she was the girl in the pink frilly shirt. That was how long it had been since she'd made her vow to prove her father, and maybe some others, wrong about what it meant to be strong and smart.

A decade had lead to her becoming the latest Top Coordinator of Hoenn, and acclaimed region wide as the Princess they'd always wanted. If she'd not been so busy crying, she might have thrown up.

The after party in her honour was like a fever dream. Everywhere there was colour, light, and a glittery sheen. When she walked into the room, it was to screaming applause and spotlights being turned to face her. She was relieved she'd fixed her make up in the elevator mirror before coming in, otherwise they might have seen the mascara smudges under her eye line from wet, teary lashes. She'd spotted her trio, Harley, Solidad and Drew, stood somewhere near the front, some of the louder cheerers in the crowds, and although her first instinct had been to track them down and melt into their familiarity, a hand grabbed her wrist before she could make her way across to them. The room was painfully loud and packed full of people that she had to try and push through to find her friends, so it didn't surprise her too much that she hadn't been able to hear Wallace calling her name through the calamity.

"May Maple," he greeted politely, though his voice raised high enough that she could make out his words. "Could we talk?" Instead of trying to shout over the crowds, she nodded willfully, a little starstruck. Not only was Wallace one of the most renowned coordinators in the past few decades, he was also right hand man to Champion Steven and had even taken over as Hoenn Champion when Steven had taken his sabbatical. The twirl to his teal hair bounced in front of her as he led her by the hand to somewhere away from the crowds: through a room, around a corner, out a door. They found their way to an empty conference room of sorts, with a big, circular grey table in the middle, countless uncomfortable looking metal chairs and plan, uninspiring walls. Everywhere was cold, icy grey. When the door clicked shut behind them, Wallace let out a long breath.

"Champion Wallace," May smiled unsurely. It was polite practice to refer to a champion as such long after they had transferred the title to someone else. Wallace shook his head slightly at her formality, laughing.

"Wallace," he told her firmly, a quirk to his brow. May nodded sweetly, repeating his name quietly. "I apologise for all the secrecy and pulling you away from the party; I'm sure you have friends and family looking for you."

"My friends won't mind waiting," May assured him, although in a small voice. "Is anything the matter?"

"Not at all!" Wallace gave a toothy grin. "I merely wanted to congratulate you on a hard earned title. It's a great joy to me, and to many others here in Hoenn, that our princess earned her title on home soil."

"It's an honour," May told him brightly, meaning it. "And the… Princess, nickname. I don't know who started it but it means so much to me now. I feel so blessed that this is my home."

"Hoenn is lucky to have you." Wallace bowed to her, over dramatic and full of flair. May stifled a giggle. "Anyway, as a close friend of your father's I felt it impolite not to assure you of the league's, and the National Coordinating Association's, complete and sincere congratulations."

"I can't think of any new ways to say thank you, but know that if there were words, then I would be saying them!" Her face full of colour, she bowed to him modestly, hiding her face in her shoulders. "I can only hope I've lived up to my father's name."

"And more," Wallace smiled. He frowned for a moment and looked like he might launch into a new topic, a more serious and private topic, when a knock on the door came and a man in a full suit and ear piece peeked in, apologising quietly for the intrusion, and giving Wallace a long, hard stare. Wallace paused, but then smiled again. "Would you excuse me a moment, May?"

"Of course," May nodded eagerly and obligingly, leaving Wallace to stride out of the room and to shut the door behind him firmly. Then, it was quiet. Primly, she tiptoed her way across the room, and pressed her ear to the door to try and make out any sign of what was going on, but all she could hear was muffled, angry hisses and whispers, and someone saying 'Get Steven' in a clipped, forced tone.

May jumped away from the door quickly.

"Sorry about that," Wallace apologised stiffly as the door flew open again, and he smiled at her with all teeth. "I'm afraid I've got to leave a little sooner than I anticipated. Will you be in Petalburg for the foreseeable future?"

"I believe so," May mumbled shyly, suddenly feeling nine again, rather than nineteen.

"I'll be in touch with your father," he told her briskly. "You know, the particulars of being a Top Coordinator and all that."

"Of course, I hope that, um…" she paused, blinking with big, unseeing eyes. "I hope everything is okay." Wallace took a moment to smile at her reassuringly, and brush a strand of hair from her face.

"I met you when you were four," he told her primly. May frowned. "A year or so before your father became Petalburg Gym Leader, and you moved to Hoenn. Do you remember?"

"I don't," May replied honestly, her voice cracking a little. The year before her father officially moved them out to Hoenn to join him, he had been acclimatising with the region (or so her mother said), and exploring on some kind of league business that she never really understood the concept of. Wallace's eyes bore into hers for a moment, searching for something she wasn't sure he'd find.

"You really loved Pokemon when you were four," Wallace told her simply, putting a hand in his pocket. May shook her head, suddenly and stupidly, almost laughing.

"You must have met another little girl," May assured him softly. Wallace have her a knowing grin, hinting at some bit of knowledge she was never clued in on, and he swept away with one last word of congratulations and the wind in his cape.

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

"Ninetails, flare blitz!" Madison hissed through clenched teeth, noting how the bristles of her Pokemon's fur stood to attention. Leaping forward, Ninetails became surrounded by white hot heat, smoking through the air gracefully as she bore down upon her opponent. There were quiet gasps, jagged breaths and low murmurs from her subordinates as they looked to each other apprehensively. Things had not gone to plan.

She had approached the Battle Pyramid with her folder of six fake frontier symbols and a casual, confident swagger. She blew bubbles of pink popping gum in his face, her thumb hooked in her old travel shorts she hadn't worn since she was eighteen. Her two travelling companions, surprisingly bulky men for a pair of Pokemon Breeders, were to cheer her on as she challenged the Frontier Brain. They were to be the ultimate distraction, the total preoccupation of Brandon and the three Regis he wielded in battle. They had expected her to lose, of course. It wouldn't matter. Courtney had another team elsewhere in the Pyramid, ready to hack into any computer database, download any research, steal any books - anything they could find that would lead them further in their goals and give them more information.

A year, they had spent planning this. A whole year. It was going to be perfect.

Until her stupid, idiotic team mate decided to get his priorities in a twist and try to capture the Regi Pokemon as well. Cover blown. Madison had to hold out against Brandon as long as she could to keep Courtney safe while she got the research. They hadn't been discovered yet, and they would have time.

"Don't just stand there," Madison's voice cracked a little as she grabbed the shirt of the idiot grunt in question. "Get back up. Both of you. Go contact HQ, let them know something went…" she paused. Registeel was struggling to deal with her Ninetails, out of some, miraculous turn of events. Technically, the cover was blown on her watch. Her admin status was suddenly up to be compromised, and that's not something she'd allow. Not now, not ever. Brandon looked slick with sweat.

"We'll go now, chief," the grunt grumbled under his breath, trying to break out of her grip, but she kept her hand fastened around his shirt while she thought.

"No." She didn't take her eyes away from Ninetails. "You wait with me."

"But, but chief…" she was met with baffled stares, and her nails dug into his chest a little.

"I won't let you fuck up again on my watch," she grunted, throwing her arm out and pushing him onto his back. "Not unless you don't plan to ever procreate."

"U-Understood, chief."

Ninetails sent out a blast of heat that felt hotter than the sun - overheat hit the mark nicely. Their training the past few years had really paid off. Madison called another attack. Brandon called another. The two Pokemon wove together in clashes of fire and blasts of hyper energy, but neither seemed to bow to the other. Madison almost felt a little breathless. She'd never known her Ninetails possessed such unwavering strength.

"No!" Brandon's voice cut through her mind like a knife. "You will not fulfill your purpose here. Even if you defeat me, you won't lay your hands upon my Regis!"

"Fine by me, sunshine," Madison exhaled weakly, her words catching in her throat. The grunts flagging her seemed to bare teeth. Brandon ordered another attack, and Madison flicked her hair from her face. "Let's draw this bad boy out, hmm?"

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

Was it possible to fall in love with music? May thought for a moment that she could. She was spinning, and spinning, and spinning. A gorgeously smooth tenor saxophone played a fluid, melodic riff over the top of a enticingly off beat rhythm, broken into a jazzy waltz that she could twirl to endlessly. It ebbed like the tide at shore, lifting and falling, and her feet found their places as she span around the room in the polite arms of a fellow coordinator. She had danced with so many, faces and names blurred before her like tempo and key shifts long forgotten in the grand score that pushed them through the evening. She found herself spun outwards, dizzy and reeling in her accomplishments. A hand caught hers in the air, she fell into the arms of her next dance partner, and so it continued.

"Harley!" She gushed, her face filling with a beaming smile. Her old rival, friend, foe, whatever he was; even he was a sight to see on a night like this. Harley gave her an equally piercing smile, his messy purple hair tied back into a neat ponytail, and so they danced.

"Mm," May thought absently. "Purple hair."

"Girl, you did a wonderful thing today," he told her earnestly. It had taken years of practice, but May knew how to tell when Harley was sincere and when Harley was feeling vicious. This was the former, and it brought a shine to her cheeks. "You blew us all away. Fantastic job, doll."

"Thanks Harley," May squeaked, her chest tight. The joy of the day was lifting her to an unfathomable head rush. "You're not all bad, are ya?"

"I might go as far to say at times, I can even be pleasant!" Harley laughed a little, dipping her dramatically and leaving her to squeal in silly laughter. "So what next for miss Top Coordinator?" Their feet clicked against the polished wooden floors noisily. Suddenly, May felt weary that her heels might make her trip and fall. "Where next?"

"Who knows!" May suddenly had to plaster a fake smile over her real one. "It's a big world out there. Maybe I'll take some time off, or do something new. I don't know yet."

"Sounds nice," Harley replied, and for a moment, he sounded flat. He almost sounded disappointed. "Gotta give me time to catch up!"

"The next title is all yours," she assured him whimsically, and so he continued to twirl her about the floor like a rag doll in the arms of a dancing child.

"Nice bracelet, doll," Harley commented absently, nodding to the blue on her wrist. May paused, brushing it with her fingers for a moment. It was a fond gesture, short, but almost reverent.

"Thank you." May smiled blissfully. "It's my favourite." It wasn't long until he was spinning her out again, her hand suspended in the air once more, and a new hand grabbed it with a speed that outmatched all before and an insistence that left her head swimming back in the music again. Green snapped up against blue, and fingers swept to her hip in a swift, euphoric pull.

"Good evening, Princess," Drew commented dryly, nodding at her tiara sarcastically, his feet steering her a little slower than the other dancers had. May didn't mind the change in pace; since Harley's little mention of the future, she'd suddenly felt a slight pain in the balls of her feet. "I guess it's my turn?"

"Apparently so," May laughed, giddy. He flashed her one of his rare, fond smiles, and she returned it with no hesitation nor expectation, letting one hand fall to his shoulder and the other to fit in his free hand like a glove. They'd always fit together so well. He stepped back, and she stepped with him. It was as effortless as breathing for them.

"How does it feel then?" He asked lightly, steering her away from knocking into another dancing couple.

"Like I've just inhaled a bunch of helium and I have to work hard to remember not to fly away," she breathed, spurring him to spin them faster. "Like everything is finally falling into place."

"Everything?" His lip twitched.

"Everything I worked to accomplish…" Her eyes fluttered and closed for a second, absorbing the moment and relishing in it. "I'm the person my father wanted me to be."

"And you?" Drew didn't skip a beat. "What about the person you wanted to be?"

"That too, I think." His words lingered between them, and he wasn't totally sure he believed her, but tonight was not the night to press that subject too far. Tonight was the night for her to embrace all that was to come in the future, not to cast doubt over what that future might be. The music slowed, and his hand on her hip became a little firmer. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Drew snorted. "It's the night for Hoenn royalty, not for their competitors."

"You're more than my competitor," May smiled thoughtlessly. "What did you feel like when you won?" He looked at her almost apprehensively for a moment, before slipping back into his comfortable, smooth smile, and moved alongside the music as it picked up tempo a little.

"Like I'd started the next big thing," Drew murmured, considering his words carefully. "I knew I could go on from there and achieve even greater feats. Coordinating opened up to me again in a way it hadn't since I first entered contests back when we were kids."

"Huh." May fell flat again. "I see." Drew picked up her sudden hesitation quickly.

"I don't know how you do it," he changed the topic effortlessly, and May barely registered it. "You're both a little girl spinning around in your party dress, and a grown, powerful top coordinator ready to take on the world."

"You're being nice to me," May teased, ignorant and graceless. "You're never this nice to me."

"You wound me," he snorted, sarcastic again, and looked to the side with a roll of his eyes. "Don't get used to it, Princess, we're just getting started."

"Started, what?" May tilted her head back a little, shaking it slightly. Her forehead creased and her touch on his shoulder grew lighter for a moment. If he noticed, he didn't say anything. "Are you saying the next dance is yours, too?"

"Do you really expect me to spin you out and let someone else start dancing with you?" Drew scoffed, nervous but not hesitant as he pulled her a little closer. "You're meant to dance with me."

"I am?" May was a little breathless.

"You are." His confirmation was firm.

They kept spinning. He held her eye contact pointedly. Her grip loosened, and his grew insistent. In the length of time it took for his face to inch towards hers, she saw everything in a flash. Meeting him at Slateport Beach. Fighting by his side on Mirage Island. Losing to him so many times and then learning how to defeat him. Friends who made jokes about their inevitability, and jealous rivals who threw spite at their feet. His dry sass, his reluctantly following her adventures, his blindly accepting her faults and his gentle, kind guidance. He was everything she wasn't, collected, reserved, and sensible. He was the choice her mother was banking on her making, the choice her father would approve of, and the choice that everyone who'd ever encountered them together was waiting to come to fruition, including Drew. He was safe, and reliable, and a consistently positive force that always pushed her to be the best she could be. They were two sides of a coin, partners, and together an unstoppable force.

His lips sweetly folded and overlapped hers, and it took her a second to register it. They were soft, and gently coaxed her into him. She'd never been kissed before, she realised blankly. There were worse people to have your first kiss with. It took her a second, but awkwardly, she realised she was supposed to kiss back. The mechanics of it escaped her. Was she supposed to just… be kissed? Or press back? Or do, well, anything? It wasn't coming naturally, and she stiffened uncomfortably. He pulled back quickly, registering her shift in mood and the sudden stillness.

"Was that… wrong?" Drew's voice came out in a strained whisper. Panicking, May shook her head quickly, inhaling sharply.

"No!" She tried to assure him. "No. That was, um, that was very nice." It wasn't a lie, she didn't think. "I just, um, you caught me off guard?"

"Right." He looked uncomfortable. They weren't spinning anymore, but it felt like they were. His hands hadn't moved yet, but then suddenly they did, and they were running through his hair or finding his suit jacket pockets and anywhere and everywhere except somewhere near May.

"Did you want to, um, try again?" Her words felt limply between them, and Drew gave her a look somewhere between humiliation and total disbelief.

"Try again." He echoed her words lamely. "You know what, actually, I think I'm just gonna go."

"Drew, I didn't mean to…" He'd turned and left, his head ducked down and his steps quick and purposeful. Drew was running from her. Biting her lip, May kicked herself. This could all have been avoided; it would have all been fine if she just hadn't -

Harley swung past her, Solidad spinning gaily in his arms, his purple hair fluttering through her vision.

It wasn't even the right shade of purple _._

Her heart thudded in her chest, noisy and arrogant, demanding her attention. With a long, shivering sigh, May stood alone in the center of a bustling dance floor, considering options she knew she'd never have.

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

"You're lucky to have gotten out of there in one piece," Courtney grumbled halfheartedly, skimming through papers in a daze. Madison snorted, smug and settled as she sunk into the seat next to her. They were sat in the back of a sturdy metal van, disguised on the outside as nothing more than a cargo lorry. Once they got to Johto and were clear of Kanto's officials, they would jump into Magma air force transportation to take them the rest of the way. Neither Courtney nor Madison minded the change in transport - in fact, it had been Courtney's idea - but the journey was full of awkward bumps and sharp turns without any warning, and the masses of grunts squeezed in around them were not quiet in their grumbled complaints.

"Ah relax, Court. We pulled it off, didn't we?" Madison gave a satisfied grin. "Besides, it's not _my_ fault that jackass tried to usurp the battle and capture Regi. Talk about trying to be a hero."

"You want to talk about trying to be a hero?" Courtney raised an eyebrow, slightly incredulous. "Your cover was blown - he could very easily have overpowered you and had you arrested. Not only would that have compromised you, but it would have compromised the organisation." A flash of something went through Courtney's eyes, and Madison couldn't tell if it was concern or fury. A jolt shook the van, and the grunts collectedly groaned. One or two began to loudly complain about bumping their heads, but silenced upon the collective stares of Courtney and Madison.

"I weighed up the options at the time," Madison told her dismissively. "It was either stay and fight, or call for backup. If I'd called back up, you might not have had chance to get the papers to come and help me. More Team Magma members would have been discovered and then where would we have been?" Courtney turned back to her papers, not looking at her. "Because I stayed and made the situation work with me, I got you even more time than we bargained for. It was a raging success."

"We were discovered," Courtney pointed out briskly.

"Because a grunt pulled a dumbass move," Madison countered stiffly. "That's not my fault. I made it work, though."

"You taking so long with Brandon was never part of the plan, and now that he knows we were there, he'll know it was us who took the papers. The League will know it was us." Courtney sent her another furious glance. "We should have bailed."

"Well I'm glad we didn't." Madison folded her arms across her chest, and let out a long, frustrated puff of breath. "Anyway, you could at least say well done for my victory."

"I can't believe you beat him." Her superior choked on a rare, disbelieving laugh. "You. Kalos Queen. Defeated the great Brandon." Courtney snorted. "Figures."

"I know." Madison bared her teeth. "He didn't stand a chance." For a second, Courtney recoiled, a little surprised at the vehemence with which her second spoke. Unsure whether to be weary or proud, she tapped her companion's cheek pointedly, and went back to studying her new notes.

"Statistically, he had a very strong chance, actually," Courtney told her in a metallic, clipped tone. Madison huffed, hugging herself and sinking further into her seat. "But I understand you were being hyperbolic for dramatic flair."

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

Hissing something unintelligible under his breath, Paul stared up at the television monitor in the Lilycove Pokemon Center with nothing but sheer disbelief.

All in all, it had been a terrible, terrible day.

It only took ten seconds of looking up at the suspended monitor in the fluorescent, bright room to know where his misplaced sense of loyalty would drag him. The Hoenn Newscast was a mixture of a media frenzy over their precious Princess of Hoenn being crowned Top Coordinator, followed by a gossip chain of said newly titled coordinator being spotted kissing long time rival Drew Hayden in the midst of the after party, and then finally, their scary sudden headline had been the attack by Team Magma over in Kanto, on the Battle Frontier Brain, Brandon.

Pretty much as soon as Nurse Joy relinquished his Pokemon to him, he was using his Pokenav to book a flight out to Kanto. He didn't have time to think about his sneaking into the contest hall, nor did he have time to think about what he had seen there, and he _certainly_ did not have time to process what it meant that it had left a coppery, burning aftertaste at the base of his tongue. The odd News Anchor with stiff, uncomfortable looking facial hair had said that they had stolen research - vital research from his father's study of Hoenn's lore. The very research he had been emulating the past few months.

He used the research as his own private justification for his fleeing Lilycove to head for Kanto. Certainly not for concern for his father, and certainly not to avoid seeing anymore news of the Princess of Hoenn.


	6. Beget: Childhood Home

**Beget: Childhood Home**

* * *

Pallet Town

* * *

"Come on man, you're taking so long!" Gary bristled at Ash's whine, sending him a dark glare from over the top of his backpack. Ash ignored it. "The longer we waste the longer it'll take us to get there. Standing around half dressed isn't going to help anyone." The researcher was packing as quickly as he could; the whole concept of suddenly leaving the lab for a few weeks to visit the Battle Pyramid had been thrown on him quickly. The attack from Team Magma had been a couple of days ago, and it had left both Hoenn and Kanto reeling a little. Kanto hadn't been sure what to make of this new criminal organisation that had struck with so little warning, and as information about them had been made to the public, the idea of an extremist environmental group had seemed almost bizarre compared with the mafia styled crime rings they were used to. Hoenn, however, had been left in an odd state of tension, unsure if the League would act, if Aqua would make a similar appearance, or if this was the beginning of a wider spread pattern of crime that would affect them in the long term.

It had been Professor Oak who had suggested that the two of them head for the Pyramid to help out if they could. Ash was immediately eager to set off, ready to help however he could, and Gary was curious as to the nature of the research that had been stolen and the potential implications. But while Ash still traveled regularly and had a bag all set to go in a matter of minutes, Gary was a little out of practice. He pulled a black t-shirt over his head, straightening it over his lean torso.

"You know Ashy-boy," Gary bit back a scowl. "Not all of us have our Mommy's pack an emergency bag for us. The big kids put together their own supplies." Ash grinned victoriously, dancing around Gary to the other side of the room, lifting and shaking a small metal container into his old friend's face.

"The big kids who pack the thickest raincoat possible and leave their water bottle on their desk?" He blinked innocently. Gary scowled.

"I was getting to that," he grumbled, snatching the black metal cylinder from Ash's hands. "Don't come crying to me if you get cold."

"In June?" Ash relished being the more experienced traveler of the two. Gary ignored him, and hooked the water canteen to his bag wordlessly. "Come on!"

"I'm coming," he grumbled, pulling the bag straps over his shoulders and arching his back to become accustomed to the weight. "I thought you had a call to make before we could leave anyway."

"May wasn't in Petalburg when I called," Ash pouted a little, taking the stairs two at a time. "It's a shame, I really wanted to congratulate her."

"Can you call her mobile or whatever?" Gary followed at a more reasonable pace.

"Nah," Ash wrinkled up his face a little. "I want to look her in the eye as a Top Coordinator! I told her Mom where I'd be so she knows where to call though." Stood in the living area of the Oak Lab, Ash looked around in a jerked hurry. "Where's the Professor?"

"He'll be in the back Lab," Gary sighed, grabbing his companion's collar to drag him along. "Slow down for five minutes to say goodbye, hn?"

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

Her hometown hadn't changed much since she'd last left. May had woven from Lilycove across to Mauville, and then east to Rustboro and south through Petalburg Woods towards her home. She'd skirted the coast on both sides of her region, taking her time to wind her way across the lands that she loved. It had been nice to travel without the pressure of contests or competition, to share her Pokemon's company aimlessly, to walk where her feet fell and to know she was homeward bound. The pathway from Route 104 through to her home ran alongside the cedar trees that used to shade her path home from school as a girl. She made a game out of the dappled summer light, leaping from patch of sun to patch of sun, avoiding the sun. Keep illuminated in the light. Leave behind the safety of the dark. Somewhere along the way, she began to laugh.

Her arrival home was full of the rush of love of her mother, who appeared immediately, peppering May's face with kisses and holding her closely to her chest.

"Oh sweetheart," Caroline hummed, tucking her daughter's head into her neck, holding it there with her hand and rocking her slowly. "You were exceptional."

"Thank you," May murmured, her voice thick with unspoken gratitude. "I feel so lucky!"

"There's nothing lucky about incredible skill," Caroline admonished sternly, cupping May's hands in her cheeks. "The only thing lucky here is that you were gifted with such natural talent for performance! The rest, you worked long and hard for."

"Mom…" May sniffed, before giggling in a burble of tears. "Thanks Mom. It means so much to me."

"I know," Caroline hummed, brushing her daughter's jaw with her thumb. "I've got stock for your favourite ramen bubbling away on the stove, but dinner won't be for a few hours yet. Why don't you go find your father? He nearly burst with pride watching the finals." May's chest puffed up for a moment, swelling with joy. "We're just so sorry we couldn't come out to Lilycove to watch…"

"You were both busy running the gym," May burbled, not thinking anything of it. She was used to the gym eating up her parents time. "Don't worry yourself Mom. I'll go find Dad, okay?"

"Alright," Caroline beamed. "We're so blessed with you, sweetpea. You're so understanding." May blinked back the surge of something in her ribs, threatening to bubble over. "Oh, and Max should be around too. He got back from Kalos a day or so ago. And Ash called a few days ago! He left a contact number for you, I stuck it to the top of the video phone."

"Oh!" May grinned. "Awesome! I'll look for them both then, and call Ash later! Thanks Mom!" Caroline tucked her fingers under May's chin one last time, and then stepped back to allow her grown, adult daughter to scurry away.

May checked everywhere before she checked the gym, hoping to track down Max first and save her father's praise for last. He wasn't in his room, or in the bathroom, or the kitchen, or the garden or greenhouse. He hadn't snuck into her room to go through her things, or the pantry to go through any snacks that were around (May searched there _very_ thoroughly), or in her father's study reading his battle theory books. So by the time she'd slipped around to check the gym, she imagined he'd be training alongside her father to begin preparation for his next journey.

She found him alone, admiring row after row of the Petalburg Gym Badges, displayed neatly in a blue case in the corner of the main battle room.

"May!" He turned to face her the moment she burst in the door, and they flew to each other in seconds, wrapping each other in long, tight embraces with pats on backs and reassuring squeezes. They'd long lost their habits of annoying the other, and frustrating each other in a point scoring, petty war. May was nineteen now, and Max was seventeen. They'd long outgrown their childhood rivalry and grown into a deep love and understanding of each other; the kind only shared by siblings who had helped to shape each other. He was taller than her now, with long gangly limbs but with that same owlish smile.

"Max," she gushed, feeling suddenly completely exhausted of her travels. "How's Kalos?"

"Full of people saying funny words," Max told her dismissively. "If I hear one more white person coming out with weird, accented vowels I might lose it."

"You did great in the league," May told him earnestly, giggling at his scowl. "You really honestly did! I'm so impressed with you!"

"Eh, I nearly had it," Max ducked away bashfully, clearly self reflecting on his loss a little hard. "Next time."

"It's hard to lose in the finals," May nodded sympathetically, wrapping her hands around his, "especially when it's so close like that. But honestly, I think you're one of the most incredible battlers I've ever seen! You're so methodical and your strategy is so watertight, I'm in awe of you!" Max's eyes began to light up as he soaked up his sister's praise, and he wrapped his arms around her again, crushing her to his chest. "You're incredible Max! You're gonna do amazingly whatever you do next!"

"You always know how to pick me up," Max laughed meekly into her shoulder, his voice cracking a little. "Thanks, sis. I needed that."

"We all do, sometimes!" May pulled back, and dusted him off to straighten out his shirt. "No little brother of mine is going to let something like a little setback stop him!"

"What about you, huh?" Max shook his head, grinning gregariously. "Princess of Hoenn, Top Coordinator… what's next, saving the world?"

"I don't know about that," May snorted, though moved by his admiration. Max's respect would always mean so much to her. "I think what's next is a nap."

"You were ace, May," Max told her earnestly, holding her eye contact and smiling sincerely. May let out a long, satisfied breath. "Your appeals were beautiful, your battles were impassioned, and you left everyone you encountered breathless. I was watching in Kalos and telling everyone there with me how proud I was to be your little brother!"

"You don't know how much I value that," May breathed, her eyes glimmering. "I… really. Thanks, Max." They looked at each other for a long moment, valuing the things they had been able to learn from the other over the years, and the earnesty with which they went about their separate paths. After a moment, Max cleared his throat, and grinned sheepishly.

"If you're looking for Dad," he almost laughed, "he's out working on the bike."

"That damn bike!" May rolled her eyes, her hands finding her hips squarely. "I swear he spent more time with that thing than us when we were kids!"

"You're not far wrong," Max sniggered, not bothered by it. "Go find him, he was looking forward to seeing you! I'm gonna hang back here for a while." His eyes flickered back to the Petalburg Gym Badges and May knew he'd been reflecting on his loss and would probably still do so for a while to come yet.

"Alright," May smiled sadly at him. "Let's battle later, and clear your head a little. And I was gonna call Ash! You should come chat to him with me!"

"That sounds nice," Max nodded, before ushering her out with a dust of his hands, knowing just how much she'd been looking forward to this moment with their father. Her hands shaking in eager anticipation, she turned on her heel and darted out of the gym towards the garage to the back, where the smell of oil and changing fluids was lingering and waiting for her.

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

"I've had the League and the G Men pointlessly involving themselves," Brandon snorted dismissively. "Honestly I don't see why they bothered. They aren't going to do anything more than bicker with the Hoenn branch about whose jurisdiction this is."

"Tch," Paul held his head up in his hands as he listened. "Corporate bullshit."

"Nothing they took was of unique value, anyhow," Brandon finished grouchily, folding his arms over his chest. They sat opposite each other at the kitchen table in the residence area of the Pyramid. Paul couldn't pinpoint a time when he'd ever been there before, although he had a faint memory once from his childhood. "It was all papers I've written that I have digital copies of, and books that I can get new copies of. I just don't understand why they took it."

"What did the research concern?" Paul asked meticulously. Brandon's already thin eyes narrowed.

"The Terrian Tribe," he explained gruffly. "Origins, folklore, translations of the ruins, artifacts, traditions, culture…" Trailing off, Brandon shrugged. "It was the surface information. Nothing on the ethical implications of a region born from war, or the ways in which those traditions have manifested in modern civilisation in Hoenn… none of the interesting stuff, really."

"Weird." Paul wasn't feeling too talkative, and Brandon knew him well enough to know that. "So what now?"

"We go on," Brandon told him briskly. "And we watch and see what they do from here. I'm going to redouble my training and you should do the same, Magma has some powerful trainers in their midst."

"Like who?" Arching an eyebrow, Paul's interest was spiked. "I can't imagine you had much issue with them."

"You'd be wrong," Brandon grunted, almost embarrassed. "I lost to a girl. I didn't catch her name, but she didn't look native to Napaj. Too western looking." He frowned. "She had a comprehensive team of fire types, and commanded them very skillfully."

"She beat you with a single type team?" Paul sat back in his seat. "She beat you at all?"

"Her Ninetails was exceptionally powerful," he reasoned lightly. "And honestly, she got under my skin with her Braixen. I don't even… really remember much of my battle with it."

"How pathetic." His son was disappointed.

"Like I said," Brandon bristled. "We all need to redouble our training." Brandon was about to ask the question that was lingering between them; the purpose of his sudden, non confrontational appearance remained undisclosed. Paul was about to say something else, to ask another question, to press further, anything to stop him from asking. Instead, when a small alarm went off from somewhere outside the room and Brandon stood rigidly, leaving to check the security monitors elsewhere, and letting Paul stew in his thoughts for a moment.

Quietly, Paul looked around the kitchen, almost unnerved by how domestic it was. There was a picture from Brandon's wedding to his mother stuck to the fridge, and a dirty mug and plate on the counter from Brandon's breakfast that he had yet to clean up. There was fruit in a bowl and orange juice in the fridge. It was all so human. Running his finger along the top of the table he sat at, Paul stayed silent. It was smooth and polished oak, but marred by circular stains where Brandon had forgotten to use coasters at various points over the years. A large double window hung opposite the table, and it lit up in flashes when the lightning outside flared up. It was a heavy summer storm.

"Paul," Brandon called him through from the other room. "It appears an old friend of yours has come to visit."

"Oh hell," Paul suddenly groaned, knowing without asking who lived in Kanto and who would suffer enough of a hero complex to come calling.

They moved through to the battle complex where Brandon met all visitors to the Pyramid. Two familiar faces were waiting in the middle. Ash grinned in a cocky, determined display of familiarity and Gary, whom Paul had encountered a few times before now, saluted in a self assured flick of the wrist. Ash seemed more than a little damp from the rain storm outside, but Gary was dry and smug, his coat tucked over his arm triumphantly. Brandon greeted them with a bracing welcome, slapping each of them on the shoulder and telling them it was good of them to have come. Paul hung back, reluctant. Pikachu waved to him keenly, but he ignored the little electric type, not wanting to engage.

"Gramps said it might do some good to come check things out, and see if all was okay." Gary shrugged, unsure if they were overstepping. "It's an usual attack."

"It's what happened, and we can't change it," Brandon told them with a stable certainty. "I'll go back over my research and see if there's anything valuable in what they stole. But we must all be more vigilant of this organisation; this was not a random attack. They have a purpose."

"Do you have any idea what it could be?" Ash pressed eagerly. "If we know, maybe we can figure out a way to intercept! We can't sit by and let them hurt people and steal!" Pikachu chimed in an affirmative agreement, running down Ash's arm and jumping onto the floor with a furious cry and raised paws.

"I have no leads," Brandon told them honestly, and Pikachu's ears dropped quickly. "Neither do the league, nor the police investigations. It all seems very strange."

"Well, I remember I encountered them a long time ago," Ash told them unsurely, straining to remember. "They were after Groudon, and they wanted to expand landmass. But Groudon went to sleep somewhere, and Lance said that the League were going to observe them from now on."

"How do you have all these insane adventures?" Gary took a moment to stare at him incredulously. "You're like a magnet for dangerous situations."

"I always come out okay in the end!" Ash gave a cheeky grin, scooping Pikachu back up into his arms. "Usually thanks to this guy!" Pikachu chirped in agreement, flashing a small peace sign.

"If Magma have been under League observation it's more than likely the G-Men have swallowed the information into a mess of paperwork." Brandon folded his arms coolly, and Paul snorted an agreeing laugh from somewhere behind him. "There are many things that could have been organisation activity in hindsight, but were swallowed as separate information at the time. Remember Hunter J, and Regigigas?"

"Of course!" Ash jumped to attention, and Paul couldn't deny his ears pricked up.

"Magma could very well have been the team to hire her to capture Regigigas; it's not unlikely, at the least, with the links between Regigigas and Groudon." Brandon shifted uncomfortably. "In any case, speculation can only remain speculation. Regigigas could have been hunted for a great many reasons. The point is, we can't always put a lot of store by League investigation; they're often so private and secretive, that they only function effectively during a total crisis, and never manage to effectively prevent them."

"I mean, I see the logic to what you're saying, but they do a lot of good," Gary offered unsurely. "Gramps always says good things about them."

"I would never disagree with your Grandfather," Brandon told him respectfully. "They've achieved a great deal of good over the years, but…"

"Bureaucracy is a hell of a hindrance," Paul grunted. Ash turned to him with a warm, keen smile.

"Paul," he greeted proudly. "It's been a while."

"Six years," Paul acknowledged tersely, nodding.

"What do you mean, bureaucracy?" Gary frowned. "All Pokemon Leagues share all of their information freely, especially when it comes to criminal organisations."

"It's filed away somewhere and traded between desk jockeys," Paul scoffed. "There'll be someone in Hoenn and someone in Kanto both assigned to ensuring Team Magma is tracked down and continually observed, and they'll both leave it to the other guy. Interregional crime will always fall through the cracks; it's just what happens in a system like ours. That's why those preventative measures never come through; it's easy to respond to something effectively when it's blowing up. But it's hard to disable a bomb when there's two guys qualified to disable it, and they're arguing over who has to bite the bullet and do it."

"Then we can help!" Ash attested eagerly. "We can be the preventative measures! We can track them and stick close to them and stop them from doing what they're doing, and figure out their plan in the process!"

"Well intentioned, but naive," Brandon stifled a smile. "We have no information as to where they're based, what they're doing, why they took what they took… It's hard to understand how they're to achieve their goals when they are so farfetched and outlandishly rationalised. Expanding landmass is the solution to overpopulation dreamt by a child. Children are known for impulsive and wild thought processes. I doubt we'll follow their logic from point to point to string their plot together."

"Then we… observe." Gary's reasoning seemed more logical. "Children's plots are wild, but repetitive. I imagine if they've stolen one thing, they'll steal again. They'll need more resources than just some research to carry out whatever it is they're doing. As they steal, we gather more pieces of a puzzle. We can figure out what they're going to do slowly."

"The longer we let that play out, the closer they get to achieving their goals," Paul warned, although thoughtfully. "We also don't know if they'll operate in a different region, without the title of their group. We don't even know that they'd steal from someone again, that's just speculation."

"It's rational speculation," Brendan offered. "I think at this point there's little else we can do. It's a shame we don't know what kind of information the League and the G Men have ascertained over the years."

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

"Dad?" May slipped into the garage with a meek call. Her father's garage was a little distance from the gym; it was a short walk back into the greenery to the back, concealed by the beginnings of the forest that stretched to the north. It was private, secluded and quiet, and just how her father liked it. The main door was wide open, filling the concrete room with natural light. A large, long, low red motorbike sat open on it's side with the engine wide open, and Norman was lost in the machinery. There was the noisy crank of a wrench pulling on a bolt inside, the heavy smell of fuel and exhaust clouding her sinuses, and the sheen of sweat along her father's back, dampening his white tank top. May smiled. "Dad!" He pulled back, wiping the his forehead with the back of his arm, and he smiled, relaxing perceivably.

"Princess of Hoenn," he mocked a bow, and May squealed, running and leaping into his arms.

"I did it Dad!" She laughed, letting herself be crushed to his chest. Norman laughed, exclaiming and swinging her about the garage, his arms strong and tough from years of exertion and concentrated training. "I really did it!"

"I had no doubt," he told her firmly, thrilled. "I really didn't. You battle, and have always battled, with an extraordinary passion and understanding of risk and balance. You have done superbly." He placed her back on the ground, the pair of them ignoring the oil stain he transferred to her red tank top, and held her by the shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye. "You are spectacular."

"I…" May couldn't imagine the words that would explain the explosion in her chest. She swallowed thickly, and her eyes fogged with the light of her accomplishments. "I just wanted you to be proud."

"You have done that and more," he assured her brightly, ruffling the hair under the makeshift headband she'd constructed out of her bandana. "I really am impressed by your battling. Your mother and I were talking about it the other night, before Max got home actually."

"Oh yeah?" May smiled, puffing up at the thought of her parents discussing her fondly while she wasn't there.

"Yeah, she commented on how you battle like me," Norman told her, laughing a little. "Despite Max training under me for all those years, he always did end up like his mother. But you weigh up your risks in the moment, you look for unexpected responses, and you battle with momentum rather than unmoving strategy." He nodded, grinning to himself. "It's quite strange to watch you do everything I did when I battled at your age."

"What was Mom's battling like?" May asked interestedly. Her mother had never lingered in battling long, more drawn to breeding, but had been known in some circles as quite the accomplished trainer in her day. It had been how her parents had met, facing off in League Tournaments.

"Meticulous." Norman shook his head, laughing. "She would have strategies for every possible outcome that a battle could have. She foresaw every potential outcome and had a counter ready. It kept her calm and cool in a battle; if she got spooked by something and she couldn't think up something on the spot she would panic and that's how I would exploit her to win." He shrugged. "She beat me a fair few times, too. But Max is a little like that; he relies on training his Pokemon's defence and speed, and edges around a battle to assess his options before he strikes. It's nice to see. Max always gravitated to me as a child, and you to your mother. It's reassuring to us both that you've taken on parts of us both, even if we weren't always present in the way we wanted…" he paused. "In the ways I should have been." May didn't say anything for a moment, and neither did he. But then she dropped her head onto his shoulder, leaning on tip toes and smiling brightly.

"It's okay." May hummed. "It's really okay."

Norman hummed appreciatively. "Want to help me with the bike?"

"Absolutely," May laughed, completely clueless. "You've never let me touch this thing before."

"This is my third child," he told her very seriously.

"Believe me Dad," May dismissed him with a flick of her wrist. "I am completely aware."

"Pass me the oil pot to your right," Norman instructed her clearly, digging back into his metal contraption. May twisted for a moment on the spot, unsure. She audibly blanked, and Norman sighed, unsurprised. "Make the L shape with your hands and think about it."

May did as she was told, holding her thumbs at right angles to her hands in front of her and turning in the direction of the backwards L. "Right. I knew that. Right." She grabbed the oil pot quickly and clumsily pushed it towards him, a little embarrassed as she noticed Norman was shaking slightly while he laughed.

"Thanks," he took it with a grin. May admired the bike as he worked, running her hand along the smooth leather seat and the perfectly polished windshield. "You can ride her later, if you want."

"Really?" May's eyes grew wide, and she inhaled dramatically, bringing clenched hands up to cradle her face. "You mean it?"

"You're a big girl, you can handle it," Norman decided. "Although, you're gonna need to be more solid on your lefts and rights."

"I can handle it," May repeated, grinning confidently. "You gotta teach me how she works! Don't I need a license?"

"Nah," Norman shrugged. "I mean, yes you do, and we're not telling your mother about this, but nah. We'll be fine."

"Agreed." May squeaked with excitement, hopping on the spot a little. "Maybe I should learn properly, as well. Get my license, in case, you know, I might drive it more in the future?"

"I'll teach you myself," Norman grinned, pleased at the thought of spending time with his daughter at last. "Does that mean you're not rushing off for any more contest seasons for a while?"

"I want to take a season, at the very least, to think about what to do next," May explained, sombering a little, primly pulling her hands back to herself. Norman nodded, approving.

"Perspective can be a good thing," he told her, nodding. "It's always good to take some time to step back and admire what you've achieved - not just for grounding, but for pride in your progress so far. There's something to be said for the satisfaction that comes from working on something for a long time and seeing it come to fruition. You make plans," he paused, choosing words carefully. "You can make plans all your life, and chase to achieve them. But if you bury your head in your goals, sometimes you miss out on the things you gain."

"I think I know what you're saying," May told him, measured and even in her voice, although her mind was swimming and light. "Like with your bike. What's the point of spending all your time working on it, if you never get to ride it and feel the wind in your hair?" Going quiet for a moment, May looked up at her father with adoring, relaxed eyes. "I'm so looking forward to learning to ride the bike with you."

"I am too," he told her gruffly, putting an arm around her shoulders. "We've got plans we can make together, you and I."

* * *

Mauville City

* * *

"Can we get a flat white for the anchor? _Now?_ "

"I'm not doing anything until I get my flat white."

"We know sir, I've just passed on your request to the interns, and…"

"Every day, half an hour before we go on air, I have a flat white. It's a routine. I follow it up with a glass of ice water and a cough drop."

"I'm sorry it's not here yet sir, I'm doing everything I can."

"I mean, half an hour gives me fifteen minutes for the coffee, ten minutes to let it settle and wash it down with the water and then five minutes for the cough drop so that the ol' vocal chords are raring and ready to go."

"Sir…"

"It's also a good amount of time for the caffeine to get into my system, so that during the show I'm at my tip top best for the public of Hoenn."

"That's a great routine, sir…"

"It's an established routine, that's what it is."

"I can see that, sir…"

"So if you've been my assistant for - what is it, six months?"

"Six months, sir."

"Six months! You've been my assistant for six long, happy, companion filled months."

"I'm honoured, sir…"

"And yet," pause, "in the six months you've been witness to my routine, my established, great routine, you've not noticed that I have my flat white half an hour before we go on air."

"... I…"

" _ **You're fucking fired you incompetent, unintelligent piece of shit. Get out. You're done. Go.**_ "

A scurry of footsteps, a quiet bubble of a sob, and the slam of the door. And Archie still didn't have his flat white.

He rubbed his beard thoughtfully, feeling the individual fibres of his beard scratch against the tips of his fingers. Examining the paper in front of him, the Hoenn newscast anchor drummed his free hand's fingers against his news desk impatiently. It was the hand that would usually hold his coffee. Focusing in, he paused to grab a pen and scribble an annotation on the report he'd been handed a few minutes ago by his ex-assistant. It was a follow up on some information he'd requested - it appeared they were focusing their resources on the artifact research they'd stolen. He could work with that.

"Did you fire her?" A snort came from next to him, and Archie looked up, grinning devilishly.

"You stick to producing," he scoffed. "I'll deal with staffing. Anyway, what's up?"

"May Maple." The produce swayed her weight onto one hip. "You want to move away from the Team Magma panic, and have them calm down again? Let's shove their new favourite celebrity down their throats until they choke."

"Have I mentioned how arousing it is when you talk like that?" Archie cooed.

"Have I mentioned how I can file for sexual harassment when you talk like that?" The producer pulled no punches.

"We're a criminal organisation, doll." Archie wiggled an eyebrow, snickering. "Our human resources department is hardly getting a solid focus in our budget."

"You're an ass." Not caring too much, the producer perched on the desk. "I really think this can take the heat off the recent attacks."

"Alright. We don't want to be too obvious, do we?" Archie hummed under his breath for a moment. "Alright. Alright. Have someone make the call."

"Yes sir." The producer hopped back onto her feet, excited. "Also, I was told to mention, there's been no update on the information from Phantom."

"He's asking for more money?" Archie winced. "We paid him off so much already."

"Apparently, he's claiming that information that could track down Samiya is priceless." She rolled her eyes, bored. "He's being gracious by being swayed monetarily."

"What a cock." Archie snorted. "Leave it with me." The producer nodded, smiled, and left graciously. As she opened the door, an intern rushed through awkwardly, holding a small coffee cup in his hand. Archie looked him up and down lazily.

"Y-You ordered a flat white, sir?" He burbled nervously.

"Hey kid," Archie grinned, baring all teeth. "Want a promotion?"

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

When Brandon called Ash over to answer the phone, he sprinted over with a grin as wide as his face, eager to congratulate his friend, Pikachu scurrying behind him. He vaguely heard Brandon explain he'd gotten a call from Petalburg Gym to the others, and heard Gary explain it was to congratulate his old travelling companion on her recent victory, but the thought didn't stick in his head long. Keenly he pulled the receiver to his ear, and the video screen flashed to life in front of him, May and Max stood side by side with beaming twin smiles. Pikachu squeaked, putting his hand onto the screen from where he perched on Ash's shoulder, wishing he could greet them physically.

"May, Max!" Ash's voice cracked, overwhelmingly pleased to see them. "It's been too long, guys!"

"Way too long, again!" May giggled, her cheeks flushed. There was a spec of black, liquid muck on her cheek. "How are you?"

"All the better for seeing you guys," Ash replied in a warm, gruff sort of way. "Man, Max, I saw your finals battle from Kalos, that was so intense! It really could have gone either way, ya'know?"

"I know," Max smiled, relaxed. "I've come to terms with it. Next time, it's all mine!"

"That's exactly the right attitude, way to go man!" Ash cheered, and Pikachu joined in, hopping on the spot, fired up. "And May, Top Coordinator at last!"

"I know, I still can't believe it!" May looked dazed. "I'm a total mess trying to get my head around it!"

"I can't think of someone who deserves it more!" Ash assured her in a gush. "You're an incredible coordinator, and you perform with your Pokemon so beautifully! It was a breathtaking Grand Festival, really. You did yourself proud!"

"Thank you, Ash!" Her eyes glinted in the light. "Honestly, I wouldn't be half the trainer I was today without you, so I really, really appreciate it. And, and everything you did for me, and you taught me…" her voice trailed off in a choke. "Ash, I'll never be able to thank you for the world of possibilities you opened up for me."

"You don't need to," Ash assured her, his face lighting up. "You gave me just as much, and taught me just as much too!" Pikachu flashed her a peace sign, chirping in agreement, and May sniffed, grinning stupidly.

"Well, thanks anyway!" Her voice crackled with laughter. Ash was about to launch into a detailed, blow by blow conversation about the battle he'd watched her have, and each move that Blaziken took alongside her Munchlax, when a voice cleared behind him and he spun on his heel to check who had followed him into the phone room. "Huh..? Oh. Hey Paul." He flashed his eyes back over to the phone. "Sorry, another friend of mine is here, Paul. One sec." May's face warped on the screen, her eyes going wide and her jaw going slack. Ash turned away again obliviously, turning to the intruder. "You need anything Paul?"

"I was going to say after you've finished on the phone, I'd like to battle you." Paul's words seemed forced, and Ash raised an eyebrow. It wasn't really Paul's style to ask for conflict politely - at least, not with him. "I believe we have a score to settle."

"Alright!" Ash pulled a fist up into the air. "You got it!" Paul nodded stiffly, and turned, ready to leave.

"W-Wait!" May jumped forward on the screen, pushing Max away, her cheeks bright and pink. "Paul! Come back!"

"You know Paul?" Ash's voice lilted with confusion. "Why didn't you say? Paul, come say hi to my friends!"

"I don't say hi." Paul shrugged him off. May's face puffed up, red and angry.

"Paul, the least you can do is offer polite greetings," she informed him crossly. "You can give me that much."

"Who are you?" Paul turned to the screen with folded, bemused arms. May hissed.

"I'm gonna let that slide just this one time," she told him sternly. "Just because you caught me in a good mood."

"You have ink on your cheek." Paul arched an eyebrow, bored.

"It's _oil_ ," she stated proudly, despite immediately lifting a finger to rub it away awkwardly. "And," she scoffed, "I totally knew that."

"Okay." Paul rolled his eyes.

"Gary and I came to the Battle Pyramid to see Brandon, after the Magma attack?" Ash began to explain, and Max and May nodded together, listening interestedly. "Anyway, we arrived this morning, and Paul was here when we arrived!"

"Oh!" May hid a small smile. "Paul, did you go to help Brandon too?"

"I'm just interested in the stolen research," Paul told them sharply, uncomfortable. "I don't really care what happens to this place." May opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, disappointed.

"But… I don't understand." Her voice went quiet.

"What's the matter May?" Max gave her an odd look.

"You always say you want to be strong," May challenged, her tone growing forceful and a little shrill. "You always say that, right?"

"I don't know how you should know what I do and don't say." Paul edged further away from the screen, frustrated.

"Y-You do!" Her eyes flared for a second. "Why?! What's the point of being strong if you're not using it to protect people; shouldn't you help people who need to borrow your strength? You can have whatever motivations you want, but why would you just ignore the plight of someone in need and abuse the situation to further your own studies!"

"What's your problem?" Paul was exasperated. "Why do you keep talking to me like you know me at all?"

"Because I do know you!" May's face crinkled up. "At least, I thought I did. I saw so much of you that day in Petalburg! And I always thought that you were a good person, under all of your spikey exterior! I thought - I thought anyone who wanted to prove themselves like that, they had something to fight for!" Her voice wobbled, as did the foundations on which she'd built his pedestal in her mind. "But - but you don't care about anything!"

"May, you're being melodramatic," Max told her dryly. Paul was about to agree, but the blue of her eyes were searching him out in a way that made his skin pimple in goosebumps.

"I'm losing patience," May continued, her voice trembling a little. "I've watched all your league battles through the years, you know, and I've waited to see it in you. That little spark." She shook her head, rubbing her eyes for a second. "That spark I saw when you told me why you wanted to be strong, that… it's my proof, my only proof that you're doing this for good reasons. But you're burying your good intentions underneath a desperate need for people to think you don't care, and it's painful to watch." Paul stared at her with solid eyes and an unwavering, stoney face.

"Why do you insist you've got me all figured out?" He looked away, dismissive. "Why does it even matter to you what I do with my time?"

"Why be the best," she asked him in a whisper, "if you can't be the best you can be. Why be the strongest if you can't help the weakest?"

Paul took the mouthpiece from Ash forcefully, and slammed it down on the receiver. Ash jumped, Pikachu cried out sadly at the loss of his friends, and Paul turned tightly on the ball of his foot and made his way out of the room mechanically.

"What was that about?" Ash asked in disbelief, following him cautiously.

"She was annoying me." Paul grunted. It was only half a lie. "Let's battle." Anything to get his mind off the way she stared at him, like he'd just dismantled her life's work. He couldn't stand her looking at him like that.

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

The oil stains on her fingers were stubborn, but May scrubbed at them with a bar of hand soap pointedly. Learning the basics of her Dad's bike had been tough, but enjoyable, and she'd managed to drive a few laps around Petalburg under his instruction. The hot water tap had gotten a little too hot, and scalded her skin to touch, so she swapped between the hot and cold taps quickly. The bathroom mirror was fogging up in front of her, so when she was satisfied she'd gotten as much of the grime off her hands as possible, she wiped her wet hands across the glass and gained little rivers of clarity where the water drops dripped along the surface, cutting through the condensation.

"May! Are you ready for dinner?" Her mother's voice cut through what was beginning to be a day dream, although it was muffled and hard to hear. She was calling up from the kitchen.

"Yeah!" May called back, drying her hands on the hem of her red overshirt. "Just cleaning up!" She pulled the overshirt over her head - it was still a little oily - and dropped it into the hamper, before hurrying downstairs, following the lushious smells of her mother's cooking keenly. She felt starved after a day working in her father's garage. By the time she got to the kitchen, her brother and father were already there, accepting bowls of steaming hot ramen and taking their seats around the kitchen table. They had a separate dining room, but for as long as My could remember they had always eaten in the kitchen unless they had guests.

"Thank you for this Mom," Max said politely, smiling at his mother as he took his seat. She brushed his cheek fondly, passing May a bowl. "It's appreciated."

"Oh I know," Caroline tittered a laugh, before kissing his forehead fondly. "Maybe one day you can return the favour and look after me! Until then, it's just so nice having you both home."

"I second that," Norman nodded between his children, lifting his chopsticks deftly. "You've both been away for too long. You must visit more, you hear?"

"Well, I'm not sure where I'm going next," Max said honestly, glancing at May. "And I don't think you were either, right?"

"You're damn right." May's voice was a little muffled by food; she had not wasted any time. "But I was thinking of going to see Brandon, yaknow Max, where Ash and Gary are?"

"So you can yell at that Paul guy in person this time?" Max scoffed, but smiled knowingly. "I should have guessed you'd want to go help."

"In my defence, he was rude, hanging up on me like that." May's face soured. "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind, he should watch out for the next time I see him."

"Yeah, you might cry at him," Max snorted. "Scary stuff." May reached across to whack him playfully around the back of the head. Max grinned, ducking his head into his food. "I might come along. It'd be good to see Ash, and to help if we can."

"Help?" Norman's lip twitched. "Is this the Brandon who got hit by Team Magma?"

"Yeah, we met him when we travelled with Ash," May explained lightly, shrugging a little. "Ash and his friend Gary went over to check it out and offer any help they could give, I'm thinking of doing the same." She snapped her fingers suddenly, remembering what she'd been meaning to ask him. "Have the G Men done much by means of investigating? It'd be good to give them an update."

"That's classified, May," Norman reminded her sternly. "I can't tell you anything like that."

"So, that's not a no at least." May nodded to herself, smiling. "Thanks."

"No, May, I need you to listen," Norman reached across to grab her shoulder. "I don't want you rushing off to Kanto to put yourself in danger, not with Team Magma running around. You're too valuable, and it's not safe to get involved in a criminal investigation. You and your friends should leave it to the G Men and leave it to the police. Understand?" May frowned, and Max looked at his plate, feeling a little apprehensive.

"Ash has handled lots of stuff like this before," Max voiced uncertainly. "We just want to help." May hid a smile; Max's hero worship of Ash had not dwindled over the years.

"That doesn't mean he should get involved again," Norman reminded them briskly, exchanging a restrained glance with Caroline, who filled her mouth and said nothing. "It's not safe, kids. I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to put my foot down that you don't get involved."

"Why?" May arched a single brow in a challenge. "Think we can't handle it?"

"You're both very capable," Norman amended, sending her a plaintive sigh.

"Then, you think we can't protect ourselves?" May twisted her chopsticks pointedly.

"May," Norman was frustrated now, "it's my job to protect you both, and I can't do that effectively when you throw yourselves into danger. I don't think you're not able to do so yourself, but I don't see why you should need to purposely involve yourself when you can leave it to trained professionals."

"Like you?" May stared him down. Norman struggled with himself for a moment, looking like he wanted to say something to her that would silence her; it was like he held onto the little bit of information that might change her mind. But instead he nodded briskly, took another mouthful, and continued with his meal in silence.


	7. Beget: To Converse

**Beget: To Converse**

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

Long, pale legs dangled over Courtney's desk, and Madison smugly crossed them as her superior swung to face her, in a rare satisfied mood as she offered Madison a quirk of a smile, breaking her usual indifferent pout. They clinked mugs of coffee as though they were champagne flutes, and drank from them deeply, hiding their conceited smiles behind caffeine.

"He's thrilled," Madison hummed moonily, her eyes glazing over. Leaning back, she swirled the coffee in her mug slowly and deliberately, enjoying the weight of it in her hand.

"There's a lot of endorphins going on in Maxie's office, that's for sure." Courtney took another drink. "When did he ask to see you?"

"We're having lunch." The Kalosian girl didn't bother to hide her excited squeal, kicking her feet a little from atop her friend's desk. "I can't believe it. I mean, finally, right?" Madison sighed a little into the space between them, melting into herself with smug glee.

"I suppose you've waited a while for this recognition," Courtney clicked her tongue, pushing some of the pastel lilac hair from her face. "No longer than most admins took to get their status though. If anything, you've progressed faster than the average subordinate."

"You sponge up all the fun," Madison pouted, nudging her friend's desk chair with her foot so it rolled away a little. Courtney blinked at her. "You just suck it up. You soak up every drop of potential for fun. You are a proverbial fun sponge."

"I'm just surprised you know the definition of proverbial," Courtney snorted. "However, I can't deny that you've certainly made your impression," the admin congratulated her reluctantly. "You just want to be careful."

"Why?" Madison gave a trill of a laugh, jumping to her feet and flexing her fingers in a fit of excited energy, ready to take on the world. Courtney didn't miss a beat, but narrowed her eyes a little as she watched her soon to be equal place her coffee mug on the desk, pulling strands of dark blonde hair from where it had caught on her smudged lip gloss. There was a pink, excited flush to her cheeks. The Magma Admin gave no visible reaction.

"You defeated Brandon, who knew you were from Team Magma." Courtney folded her arms and leant forwards. "Undoubtedly, an attack from Team Magma in Kanto that has been heavily documented in the news will have been followed up on by the police and by the league."

"What's your point?" Madison shrugged her off, humming whimsically. "I was already a wanted criminal, just for being part of this organisation."

"But now there's a man who will have given the league an extensive report on this girl from Team Magma who beat him with a team that once performed to the height of success in Pokemon Showcases." Courtney's words almost made Madison pause. "If they link up the team you used against Brandon to your identity, the league can paint a target on your back. You'd have to be withdrawn from civilian life. You couldn't go undercover anymore. You would be the face of Team Magma, recognised as a powerful trainer and accommodated for, and the bullseye for the League investigation." Madison's lip twitched. "Your potential lies in the element of surprise and deception."

"I like to think I've contributed more than that," Madison scoffed, pulling her mind away. "Regardless, Maxie doesn't seem to be worried if he's requesting a lunch with me. And if the league comes after me, I can handle myself. This is about a cause bigger than me."

"Exactly," Courtney's hand clenched. "This is about a cause bigger than you." Almost offended by her friend's insinuation, Madison turned and made a small surprised noise in the back of her throat. "Don't let your ambition and personal gain get in the way of rational thought."

"I won't." Madison felt like her wrist had been slapped. "I thought I was doing the right thing."

"You took a chance with limited probability of succeeding, and you defied odds." Courtney didn't move. "Be careful."

"I will." Courtney was probably the only person Madison knew had a genuine affection for her, and knew she would only speak out of well intentioned concern. There was no hesitation as to her dedication, they both knew that much at least. "We're good, Court."

"Mmm." Courtney returned to her coffee, not looking up. "Maxie is fortunate to have you in his ranks." It was a quiet peace offering after chastising her, and Madison smiled, understanding.

"He's even luckier to have you." It was a heartfelt murmur, and Courtney smiled, appreciative. "Look at all this work you've been doing!" Madison gestured blindly to the notes she reluctantly admitted she might have squashed when she'd sat on the desk. Courtney straightened them out neatly.

"I am looking forward to you having your own office to dismantle, I suppose," Courtney teased, and Madison flushed.

"Anyway," she coughed. "Anything coming up from Brandon's research that you think will help? Artifacts? Information?"

"More like dead ends," Courtney scoffed, leaning on the desk miserably, her wrist bending with the weight of her chin on the palm of her hand. "It's just full of references to texts I don't have access to. He says there was a whole library of information somewhere on this shipwreck down south, but I bet it's been cleaned out and shipped out to Universities by now."

"Isn't it worth a look?" Madison pressed, taking the papers from them and scanning through them quickly. The bibliography at the back was packed with informal diary entries and logs of research from hundreds of years past. All of them were sourced to this shipwreck.

"I doubt it," Courtney sighed a little, taking the papers back. "I'm gonna start tracking down these diaries though. Maybe there's one or two in the Museum here in Lilycove. It's worth looking into, anyway."

"Right," Madison hummed, half listening. She peered over Courtney's shoulder to get another long look at the papers, her hands twisting behind her back. "Um, I'm gonna get going."

"Your meeting with Maxie isn't for a few hours yet." Courtney gave her a long hard look, making Madison pause from the quick getaway she suddenly tried to make. "You alright?"

"Just gotta look something up," Madison dismissed awkwardly, laughing and waving her off with a flick of the wrist, and jumping towards the warp panel; it flickered in a bright blue beam of light as it swallowed her whole. "I'll call you after my meeting thanks for the coffee gotta run bye!"

The office was quiet for a moment, and Courtney finished her coffee, watching the warp panel light fade with a slight curiosity. The second empty mug that had been Madison's sat just a short distance from hers, and there was a pink lip gloss imprint around the edge of the mug. Courtney reached forward and traced it with the tip of her finger.

"Silly girl," she murmured to herself, and returned to her notes.

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

Knowing that May and Max were occupied with some practice battling, and that Caroline was tending to the Pokemon in the greenhouse, Norman could work privately for a while. He'd read through the bulk of the reports that had been forwarded on his request, and finally he felt he was abreast of the situation - at least enough to begin preparing for the worst. Wallace had left him a message a few days ago to be in touch when he had gotten up to date, and finally he felt prepared enough and alone enough to follow up. The video phone connected with a polite, mousy secretary that bumbled about to connect him, and it wasn't long before Wallace's face lit up the video screen, smiling serenely and twinkling his fingers at the receiver. Norman could have laughed. His old friend hadn't changed over the years in the slightest.

"Good afternoon, Wallace," Norman greeted amicably. Wallace wrinkled his nose.

"Hello there, Norman," Wallace replied brightly. "How are things in Petalburg?"

"Nothing bad to report here," he informed him cheerily. "In fact, the kids are both home. It's nice to have them around for a while."

"Ah, yes," Wallace's grin grew long and catlike. "I had the pleasure of speaking with your daughter recently in Lilycove. A lovely young woman; you've raised her… well."

"The best laid plans," Norman murmured warningly, and Wallace raised his hands almost apologetically.

"I didn't say anything to her," he assured him. "Regardless, it was nice to meet her again after all these years. It's been hard to stay away at Wallace Cups, but I've done as I was told."

"I appreciate it," Norman looked down for a moment. "Unfortunately, it seems our suspicions all of those years ago were right." A little static blurred the screen for a moment.

"It appears so." Wallace gave him an enigmatic grin. "Which, I suppose, leads us to the crux of the matter, doesn't it?"

"I suppose it does." Frowning, the Petalburg Gym Leader glanced over his shoulder for a moment to ensure his family really where out of earshot. "What do you need me to do?" He rolled his shoulders back a little, preparing for some lengthy task away from home. It never came.

"There are some… objects that need to be guarded." Wallace's nose twitched. "If they were to fall into the wrong hands, we would have some problems. It's happened before, and..." Trailing off for a moment, Wallace gestured with his hand lazily. "Well. It wouldn't end well."

"Don't be all flowery about it, Wallace," Norman groaned. "What do you need me to do?" His repeated question wasn't lost on Wallace.

"I'll have them dropped off at the gym," the coordinator gave a knowing, settled smile. "It's two orbs. One of them is red, and one of them is blue. I'm sure you're aware…"

"Of the significance, yes." Norman's eyebrows raised pointedly. "I thought there were protections in place for them in Mt Pyre? Hell, I thought they weren't allowed to leave Mt Pyre?"

"We had to have a rather forceful conversation with the pair who guard the orbs." Wallace sighed, momentarily displeased. "They would only agree to letting us guard the orbs on their behalf if they were allowed to keep a tracking device letting them know where they are. Which is fine, I guess. We've added extra protection to Mt Pyre just in case."

"I'm guessing should Team Magma or Aqua find out where the orbs are traditionally kept," Norman figured, "then Mt Pyre would be the first place they'd go. And then the League would be the second."

"Exactly." Wallace gave a whimsical smile. "And who would think to check Petalburg? Not to mention, you're one of our more… competent gym leaders." For a moment, the Champion wriggled his eyebrow pointedly. "The orbs will be safe with you."

"Of course," Norman nodded, smiling to himself. "Is there anything else I can do? Anything I should prepare?"

"Down, boy," Wallace laughed effervescently. "We don't need to start thinking like that unless we lose the orbs. For now, focus on protecting your city and keeping your gym low profile so long as you're guarding these orbs. We wouldn't want to draw any attention to you."

"I understand." The implications weren't lost on was a second fuzz of static as the signal frayed for a moment, but the two men held eye contact for a moment, understanding the potential ramifications that could come from a small mistake now. Faintly, Norman could hear the consequential noise from the gym where May and Max battled playfully, her Venusaur facing his Sceptile, and for a moment, his eyes gave him away.

"Don't worry," Wallace assured him. His eyes hardened. "Steven and I know what to do."

"I know you do." Norman finally looked down. "Let me know when the orbs are on their way."

"We will," his friend pulled out a gratuitous smile from somewhere and twinkled his fingers again. "Give my best to the family. They're always important to the League, you know that."

"I trust you. And my regards to Steven." They finished formally, stiff with unease. Neither of them felt particularly settled. "Keep in touch." As Wallace's image faded, Norman closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cool black screen, listening to the sounds of his children's determination and laughter echoing through the halls.

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

"And anything to drink for you, miss?" The waiter asked politely, his back arched as he leaned towards her, his pen poised over the small white notebook in his hand. Maxie had blankly informed him they weren't ready to order, but had asked for a simple glass of tap water to have in the meantime. Madison's eyes flickered to the menu, where she'd spotted her particular favourite; a lightly carbonated pomegranate and pecha berry blend.

"Just water for me as well," Madison murmured politely. "Thank you." Maxie didn't say anything, but his eyebrow twitched and his lip curved in amusement.

"My pleasure, miss," the waiter nodded, and bustled away, his shoes squeaking against the polished floors. Maxie's eyes didn't move from Madison, watching her quietly and carefully. She wasn't sure what to say in response to nothing, and so they sat in an awkward, pregnant silence for a while.

"Admin Courtney sings your praises." Maxie's voice was hushed and surprisingly unsure. "She tells me you're one of the greatest things to happen to this organisation."

"I've learnt a lot from her," Madison told him sweetly, nodding in the direction of the table. "She's been a great teacher to me."

"She tells me you defeated Brandon," Maxie continued deliberately. "She tells me that tracking him down was partly your idea." Madison looked up sharply, suddenly worried.

"She didn't… I mean, she didn't tell me anything I didn't have clearance for!" She fretted, her voice coming out in an apprehensive burble. Maxie coughed to hide a laugh. "I mean, she just, she talked in hypotheticals? I guess? I didn't know…"

"Admin Courtney breached clearance," Maxie told her carelessly, lifting and dropping his shoulders. "I was surprised when she told me. But not after her explanation. She sees a great deal in you, and after her recommendation and your growing list of accomplishments within our ranks, I can see why."

"Thank you," Madison breathed, relaxing into her seat. "I hope she isn't in trouble, or…"

"She's not," Maxie assured her, almost laughing. "You're protective over her?"

"I'm her second," Madison explained effortlessly. "I've got her back, and she's got mine."

"Of course," Maxie was almost purring. "Which is why I think you'd work much more effectively as an admin. Be real partners. Maybe I'll even give you the office next to hers, who knows?"

"Admin?" Madison's chest visibly swelled with air, and her shoulders hitched. "R-Really?"

"You'll report to me, not Courtney. But you'll work closely with her, I assure you," Maxie smiled knowingly. "Plus, when she's working on research for me I can send you out to do field work, as I hear you excel in…" he paused. "How did she phrase it? Deception?"

"I can spin a tale or two," Madison breathed, the air expelling from her lungs audibly. "I… thank you, Leader."

"Maxie," her boss's glasses glinted in the light, "please." Madison arched forward, leaning on her elbows, soaking in the intoxicating air of success, but drew back quickly when two glasses of ice water were placed on the table between them neatly. Despite not having looked at the menu any further, Maxie quietly ordered a pasta dish that Madison couldn't quite make out, and she was left to scan the menu hastily.

"Uh, just the, um, r-roast parsnip soup, please," she asked warily. The waiter blinked but smiled reassuringly, and thanked them both politely as he moved away. Maxie looked like he was about to say something, but something buzzed in his pocket and he took it out without apology. It was about the size of a PokeNav but with a different design, more spherical and less decoration. He tapped at the screen for a while, his eyes furrowed and focused. Madison took a deep drink of her water, still more than a little nervous.

"Sorry," Maxie finally mumbled; an afterthought. She shook her head, smiling.

"You're fine," she told him lightly, looking down.

"I just got some intel from tech; we've finally traced the IP address that's been shadowing our files," Maxie explained in a dark grumble.

"Oh, what do we know?" Madison's ears pricked up. "I mean, if I have cleara-"

"You have clearance." Maxie nearly snorted. "We've traced it to Mauville, past all those damn passcodes and firewalls that have been keeping us out. The Newscaster Hub, to be specific. It sounds like Team Aqua have control over the media."

"That's why we've been followed so closely in the news," Madison murmured, looking away for a moment as she thought. "Huh."

"Huh indeed." Maxie was clearly frustrated. "Well, at least we know we can trace our hackers now. We can start breaking into their files and observing them, too. It's time we evened the playing field a little."

" are lots of things we have that they don't, too." Madison nodded, beginning to grin. "This is something I wanted to mention, actually. Courtney was telling me about the research we've taken from Brandon; apparently there are lots of references to books and resources that were located on an abandoned shipwreck between Dewford and Slateport. I'd like to request permission to go out there and track down any more information that could help Courtney's studies."

"Books?" Maxie arched an eyebrow. "Will they still be on the ship, or will they not have been relocated to a library or research hub here on the mainland?"

"There's a lot of references to this ship, Maxie," Madison insisted, swallowing thickly. "I've got… I've got a feeling about it."

"Alright," Maxie nodded, his lips curving into a smile. "I grant your request. Just try to keep your cover, this time."

"Absolutely sir, I'll be in full civilian gear!" Madison beamed, thrilled. Maxie withdrew a little, but maintained his smile.

"Your enthusiasm is reassuring," Maxie admitted softly. "We live in such a… precarious world. A world of political abuse and indifference, of empty ideals and policy shifts that harm many and yet mean nothing. We're running out of resources, and running out of time." He held her eye contact gently, coaxing her determination forward with a soft insistence. "We need land to flourish as a people, as an existence; it is always a good thing to see passion and dedication to this cause." Madison weakened, her ribs aching as she considered the earnesty in his words. For a moment, her loyalty shifted. It was not to her own ambition, or to her success, or even to the weakening of the ocean. It was to Maxie, and to his beliefs, and to his solution for the world that seemed to escape so many.

"I understand," Madison murmured her reply, meaning it. In that moment, she really did.

"We may be criminals," Maxie straightened his napkin into his lap. "But what we're setting out to achieve is moral, it is vital, and it is for the good of everyone. There is a stark difference between illegal and immoral, however they might overlap in places. Please, always remember this in your instruction of others." Madison nodded, absorbing his words. "We don't want to hurt. We want to help. Our methods are simply… unorthodox."

"Utilitarianism," Madison hummed, smiling. "We've got to do what it takes to make life as good for as many people as possible. Though we may step on a few people to get there…"

"In the grand scheme of things, we'd be improving many lives for generations to come." Maxie nodded, pleased. "I'm glad you understand."

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

"I think the most important thing we need to consider," Caroline trilled, gesticulating wildly, "is what you're going to wear."

"Are ya sure she doesn't need to figure out how to string a sentence together first?" Max countered quickly, grinning with a sneer at his older sister. May pushed him back with a pout and sulked in her seat at the kitchen table. Caroline passed them both big glass tumblers full of lemonade that they drank obediently to rehydrate after their match.

"And Max, are you sure you don't need to bite my a-" May was quickly interrupted by her mother.

"I was thinking," Caroline gushed, pointedly not responding to May's choice in potential language, "that we could go up to Mauville a few days early and stay in one of those fancy hotels that keep popping up, and shop around for the perfect interview outfit!"

"Aw, Mom that sounds so nice!" May smiled moonily before taking a big gulp of her drink. "There's that super cute new boutique they were getting ready to open last time I passed through Mauville, I'm sure they're open by now! We can go check it out!"

"Absolutely!" Caroline was thrilled. "I'm thinking a pink dress, but not too young." She tilted her head for a moment. "Something tailored and with neat, clear lines."

"I do love pink," May hummed, thoughtful. "I wore blue to my after party and I really loved that!"

"Blue!" Caroline's face lit up. "Oh it would match your eyes! Something shimmery, with a lilac or teal sort of undertone. Strapless?"

"I'm not attending a gala, Mom," May giggled, pleased for the attention. "Something… oh what's the word I'm looking for. I'm thinking like, not businessy, but smart, and modest…" The mother and daughter looked at each other in a tight focus for a moment, groping for the word desperately. Max watched them, almost embarrassed.

"Conservative?" He offered in a dull, bored drone.

"Conservative!" Caroline and May repeated in a pleased chant, before bursting into silly giggles.

"You both need help," Max snorted. "Professional help."

"We could hire a stylist!" May jumped to attention. "Great idea Max! I mean, I don't know about you Mom but I am awful at hair and makeup. People keep telling me about contouring and blending sticks for eyeshadow and honestly it sounds like a whole other world." May sighed dramatically. "What does lip liner even contribute? People just cover it up with lipstick afterwards right? I'm so confused."

"Oh honey," Caroline sighed, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You have much to learn about the world."

"I'm gonna go make sure my Pokemon are all rested up," Max slid up onto his feet, not wanting to hear the cosmetic rant his mother was about to launch into. "You know, make sure all is well after I creamed ya May."

"It would have been a lot different if my toxic attack had landed!" May stuck out her tongue childishly. "Rematch! Tomorrow!"

"We'll need to set off for Mauville tomorrow, honey," Caroline reminded her sweetly.

"Too bad, Princess!" Max jeered, running for the door before May could grab him. "I guess we'll just have to accept I'm far superior to you in every way."

"I'm gonna crush you like a bug!" May threatened darkly, ready to jump up and chase him, but Caroline stopped her with an awkward laugh and a gentle grasp around her wrist.

"Let him have this," Caroline reminded her in a hushed, motherly tone. "He took the loss in Kalos hard."

"Yeah, yeah," May muttered reluctantly. "He's lucky this time. I went easy on him, but next time I'll cream that little brat."

"I'm sure you will," Caroline soothed noncommittally. "Besides, it's hard having a big sister who's suddenly a big celebrity, you know?"

"I guess," May hummed, thoughtful. She withdrew a little. "Am I really a celebrity now?"

"You're practically a mascot for the region sweetheart!" Caroline waved her off thoughtlessly. "Princess?"

"Right. Princess." May laughed hollowly. "I don't know, this isn't what I was aiming for. I wanted people to think of me as someone with… substance, I guess. Not just a coordinator in a pretty dress."

"Oh honey," Caroline murmured, pushing some of the hair from May's cheek. "Why on earth can't you be both?"

"R-Right," May smiled, her cheeks pink. "Right. Thanks." They were quiet for a time, and May took another drink of her lemonade. "Mom, why did you quit battling?"

"I didn't enjoy it anymore," Caroline told her bluntly, leaning on her hands. She blew a little hair from her forehead. "I mean, your father and I began dating and it was getting serious, and I had always enjoyed raising Pokemon and… I peaked, at some point, too." Shrugging, Caroline gave an airy smile. "It wasn't what I wanted to do with my life. Honestly, I strategised so much and over thought everything… it was stressing me out! I just wanted to spend time raising my Pokemon to be happy and healthy, and to be with your father. But it wasn't some cliche," Caroline began to laugh, "gave up my dreams to follow your Dad thing. Actually he was really upset when I told him I wasn't taking on gym challenges any more. He worried he'd pushed me out of it, but he never did."

"Right." May looked down. "So how… how did you know what you wanted to do next?"

"I didn't!" Caroline brushed her daughter's hair back. "I wanted to give myself space and time to figure that out. And I was happy for it, eventually. I got there in the end. Are you thinking about giving up coordinating?"

"I don't know, maybe." May shrugged. "I've done what I set out to do. I never grew up dreaming of ballgowns and ribbon cups, I just wanted to explore." She sighed, a little weary. "Maybe… but I don't want to let people down."

"The only person you ever need to worry about letting down is yourself," Caroline told her firmly, brushing her cheek. "Not your friends, or your rivals, or… your father?" Her lips quirked into a knowing smile. "You just have to do what you need to do. Your Pokemon will support you all the way! You have the gift of youth and time, and you can change your mind as many times as you like."

"Thanks," May murmured, suddenly tired. "I just wish I was strong enough to… it doesn't matter."

"Strong enough to what?" Caroline paused, suddenly apprehensive. "Why do you want to be strong? You're already a brilliant battler."

"I wasn't strong enough to make someone listen," May explained in a hurried mumble, feeling suddenly shy. "I really wanted them to respect me, but… it doesn't matter now. I just, I'd thought I'd done enough." May stood, her head ducked a little. "Thanks for the lemonade Mom, I'm gonna go pack my stuff together for tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll call the hotel," Caroline told her lightly, standing with her. "We're not done talking about this though. You have to remember that anyone who doesn't respect you isn't worth your time, or your heart May. You have more to give than that."

"Thanks," May flushed. "I appreciate it, but I think I'm just gonna go be by myself for a while. Okay Mom?"

"Alright sweetpea," Caroline sighed, her eyes unfocusing as May hurried away, her head lowered and her arms folded around herself a little.

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

Paul had waited until it was late, at least, before slipping out. A last, clipped conversation with Brandon left him assured his father had known he was leaving without having to expressly explain it, and had gifted him with some more leads to continue his research in Hoenn with a new sense of purpose. It was the only way he could think of to actively pursue Team Magma now, and meant putting his mind to something instead of sitting around and waiting for more news of thievery, or worse. He'd packed his bag while Gary and Ash had taken up Brandon's time, and headed out as soon as he was confident all were asleep. In a rare sentimentality, he paused, looking up at the outline of his father's home. It could have been his too, once.

He walked on, regretting looking back.

There was relative peace for a moment as he disappeared into the shadowy greenery that surrounded the Pyramid. The moon was slowly becoming shielded by the overgrowth, but the light seemed to permeate through and leave the night in a silvery sheen. A quiet scratch of paws against the ground caught his attention, some wild Pokemon probably, so the tug at at his ankle didn't catch him entirely off guard. Pikachu blinked up at him, smiling sadly, his paws clutching the synthetic grey of his waterproof trouser leg. Paul paused. Pikachu clearly felt comfortable enough to scramble up his leg and around his torso, onto his shoulder, in order to have better eye level. From there he gestured with his tail back towards the Pyramid with a little insistence.

"He's on his way, huh?" Paul murmured, contemplating putting Pikachu to the floor and going on ahead anyway. Pikachu chirped enthusiastically, and Paul sighed, resigning himself to lean against the trunk of a tree and wait. It wouldn't take him long.

"Paul!" It really _hadn't_ taken him long. Ash was a little out of breath when he joined them in the night air, having sprinted from the room he and Gary had been given for the night. He was still in his pajamas, and clearly had thought he hadn't the time to spare to change. Paul realised quickly Ash hadn't thought that he would have waited for him. "You're leaving?" Pikachu, satisfied he'd done a good job, leapt from Paul's shoulder to Ash's outreached arms, and scrambling up to sit atop his hatless head.

"Yeah." Paul didn't want to explain himself too much. "I've got some things to take care of in Hoenn."

"Right!" Ash nodded, suddenly enthusiastic. "Make sure you keep your eye out for more info, and let us know, okay?"

"Sure," Paul shrugged. He would probably have touched in with Brandon about it, anyway. For the research; not for his paternal merits. "See ya."

"W-Wait!" Ash stepped forward before Paul could make a move to leave. "I just… wanted to check in after our battle yesterday." Paul snorted.

"If you're here to complain that I defeated your precious Greninja…" Paul began to raise an eyebrow but Ash laughed him off.

"No, Greninja and I know how to lose," Ash grinned a little, embarrassed. "I just wanted to… well, I've known May a long time, and I know she can get a bit intense with the shouting and stuff."

"You mean the Petalburg girl?" Paul knew exactly what he was referring to, but attempted to distance himself. "It's nothing."

"I've never seen her upset like… like _that_ before." Ash paused, not sure how to continue. "When we were younger, she'd yell at Max all the time, and she'd yell at me all the time, and she'd… yell about food all the time." Awkwardly chuckling, Ash rubbed the back of his neck and Pikachu chirped in agreement, giggling. "But she, well, she never looked like that when she did it."

"It's really not anything that I'm concerned with," Paul assured him briskly, adjusting the bag strap on his shoulder, not wanting to admit his intrigue. There was some deep, well hidden spot in a well repressed part of his mind that was curious. Ash had seen her grow from the girl in the pink shirt to something closer to what she was today, and he couldn't deny the existence of questions he knew he'd never ask. "See you around."

"You don't need to worry about it," Ash continued, pressing forwards, dismissing his dismissal. Paul winced. "I know her well enough to know she only gets seriously upset when she cares about something, so you don't need to worry if you think you really did upset her or something. I mean, she'll come around." Paul couldn't find it in himself to reply; there was really no way of avoiding the topic with Ash. He was like a Houndour with a slipper he wouldn't give back, and no matter how much Paul tried to pry it from his grasp, his teeth were dug into it with resolution.

"She'll be fine." Paul shrugged awkwardly, looking to the path he planned to take rather than at Ash. His old rival watched him for a while longer, as though trying to piece things together in his head.

"You didn't really want to battle yesterday, did you?" He asked suddenly, folding his arms. "You heard I'd be on the phone to a friend from Petalburg. It was…"

"I beat you, didn't I?" Paul breathed, exasperated, turning fully away. "I barely know her; stop signifying some importance that doesn't exist." Ash had met many people over the course of his travels. A great deal of them were his friends, some of them were more like acquaintances, and then there were the select few who were his family by choice. Some of them had been rivals, and some of them had been companions. Some he'd spent years alongside and others he'd spent minutes. Some were mentors, and some he'd been able to teach. Some he'd even gotten to act as both. But more than anything, Ash could recognise when one had burrowed under his skin to begin to inspire something greater, and he could recognise something of that in others.

"May's a really good person," he mumbled lightly, his hands finding his pockets. "I'm guessing you guys aren't close or anything, really. But she means something to you, right?" Paul didn't answer right away. He knew Ash well enough to know he was blind to the categorisation of relationships, and the way in which other people might interpret his words. There was an earnest innocence to his words, the same well intentioned naivety that Brandon had pointed out to them the day or so before. They were hard to shrug away, but he did his best to try. "Friends are important. Maybe when you go out to Hoenn you should try and catch up with her and clear the air. It might make you feel a bit better."

"I feel fine," Paul informed him coolly. Ash shrugged. "She's just an over dramatic little girl. She always has been. I'll see you around." Paul finally made his way to the path to leave, but Pikachu wasn't having any of it. He leapt forward again, in front of Paul, and began to rant.

His little repetitive vocabulary was thrown at Paul in the most expressive of ways that he'd ever seen. Pikachu was upset, clearly, but also pleading. Aggressive, and yet protective. It gave him a momentary pause once more, looking down at the impressive little electric type.

"Pikachu spent a lot of time with May," Ash explained lightly, smiling to himself. "Everyone I travelled with, really. He's always the first to defend a friend."

"I see." Paul inhaled deeply. Pikachu looked at him sternly. Paul nodded by a quiet, non admissive means of apology, and Pikachu backed down a little, appeased, but still unhappy.

"Why did you come to the Pyramid anyway?" Ash asked brazenly, hoping a topic change would convince him to stay a little longer. Paul groaned, not wanting to continue this particular conversation. "I mean, you said it was for research, but I've barely seen you look at any of Brandon's stuff, all you did was talk about Team Magma. It was actually," Ash laughed again, itching the back of his head slightly. "Well, it was actually Gary who pointed that out. But he makes a valid point."

"How did you beat Brandon?" Paul asked curiously, turning on his heel to face him. Ash was taken back, and paused to think about it. "You're no stronger than I am. You proved as much in our battle yesterday."

"Gee, thanks," Ash deadpanned. "Well… I don't think it was me that beat him. That battle isn't one I take credit for," Ash admitted deftly, looking towards Pikachu with a smile. The pokemon brightened, and returned to his trainer's side. "It was my third try, and Brandon told me to think about what made me strong. I went back to my roots, I guess." Smiling to himself, he picked up his starter pokemon and rubbed him between the ears. "I called in on some of my first Pokemon, from all around where they ended up. I got my Bulbasaur over from Professor Oak, where he helps look after the Pokemon at the lab, and Squirtle came from Officer Jenny; he helps to lead the fire fighting Squirtle Squad!" Ash grinned, fond of his memories. "And Charizard flew all the way from Charicific Valley for the battle, too." Pikachu made a fond noise, and looked upward to the sky. "We did some special training together, and went camping, just the five of us! When we came back... " Ash's fist tightened, and he looked at Paul with a light he'd never seen before. "We battled together, as one. I didn't win that Frontier Symbol. Squirtle did when he washed out that sand attack from his eyes, and Charizard did when he sent out that amazing Dragon Breath, and when Bulbasaur brought out those incredible solar beams…" Ash trailed off. "And then when Pikachu took out Regice with that Volt Tackle. I'll never forget it." His starter sighed at him pleasantly, moving to sit upon his shoulder and crackle static between their cheeks fondly.

"You attribute it all to them?" Paul asked quietly, a little reflective. "But it was your call, right? Your ideas, your strategies?"

"Well, I mean, everything I know about Pokemon battling I learned from my Pokemon," Ash told him brightly. "And I've never learnt so much so quickly as I did with those guys. We were all beginners together, and there's nothing we don't all know about each other. We've all made mistakes together, we've all grown together. And I know they're still growing out there while they're helping people who need them, like the Professor and Officer Jenny." Ash smiled, warmed. "They bring out the style of battle in me that's the most natural, I guess. Because they're who I first learned to battle with."

"Most natural." Paul considered this for a moment, looking away. "Right."

"You know," Ash offered, rubbing his nose a little. "I think you're at your hardest to beat when you're… emotional."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Paul scoffed, his face immediately falling from thoughtful to disinterested.

"Hear me out, hear me out!" Ash laughed. "Well, yesterday, when you beat me. You were kinda… upset, right?" Ash chose his words cautiously. "After the call with May? I'm _not_ saying you were sad about it, but like… if you _had_ been… you kinda battled through it, right?" Ash raised a hopeful eyebrow. "You didn't hide from it so much. But when I've battled you in the past, and you're calm and collected and then something… throws you off balance, maybe?" Ash shrugged. "Like if your strategy doesn't work, or something doesn't go the way you expected it to, or you get surprised; you spend so much time trying not to let yourself be angry that maybe that clouds your judgement a little."

"That sounds completely ridiculous," Paul snorted, and turned to leave again. Ash shook his head, smiling.

"Maybe just, if you're not so busy pretending you're not riled up by the battle and trying to hold back all the emotions that you're supposed to feel when you're battling alongside your pokemon…" Ash shrugged, unsure if he'd overstepped. "Maybe then you'd have more headspace to focus on the battle itself. Letting the emotions happen means being able to spend less time worrying about appearing weak and more time figuring out how you're gonna combat it."

"So I can be pathetic, and dwell on every loss like you do," Paul sneered, and Ash sighed into a smile, reaching up to pat Pikachu on the head gently.

"If that's what you wanna call it," Ash tittered. "It's the best way to grow, I reckon. Anyway. It was worth a shot."

"I'm leaving, remember?" Paul told him stiffly. Nodding, Ash flashed him a thumbs up.

"Gary and I are gonna hang here for a while," he told his old rival brightly. "You don't need to worry, we'll help Brandon out here, and be an extra pair of hands if they come back again."

"Why should I care?" Paul was finished, and turned to leave abruptly, striding into the dark of the night. Ash shivered from the cold, but called after his retreating form hopefully.

"I dunno man," he finished lamely. "It just feels like you kinda care."

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

"You told him you told me stuff I didn't have clearance for?" Courtney was not surprised that Madison had appeared in a rage at her front door, and it did not surprise her that it came at three in the morning. Standing aside with a shrug, she allowed her partner in crime to enter her home.

"You told him you wanted to go to the shipwreck, even after I told you there was no point," Courtney countered, shrugging. "Are we even?"

"You could have gotten disciplinary measures for that!" Madison ranted, storming forwards to help herself to the contents of Courtney's fridge. "Heck, you should have gotten them. I don't know how I feel about Maxie's leadership skills and follow through that you didn't. Ugh, don't you ever eat anything human, like chocolate?"

"Vegetables are indeed intended for human consumption," Courtney muttered back, wrapping her nightgown tighter around herself. "Maxie trusts my judgement and my solid track record of objective, rational decisions. That's why I'm an Admin. There's ice cream in the freezer."

Madison arched an eyebrow at her as she pulled out the tub from the bottom shelf. "You hate ice cream." Courtney shrugged, looking away.

"You come over here often enough, demanding my food." She swallowed thickly. "I figured I'd get something that you could target that at, so you'd leave my pecha berries alone."

"Of course," Madison snorted, taking a spoon out from the left hand drawer and helping herself. "Plain fruit is for the weak, anyhow. Regardless, I've got a hunch about this shipwreck. Wait and see, you're gonna be thrilled that I went."

"Honestly," Courtney rolled her eyes. "You're a law unto yourself. Anyway, how are you going to get there without having to brave the big bad ocean?"

"Leave it off," Madison shrugged into herself.

"A helicopter would raise suspicion," Courtney pointed out briskly, sitting next to her at the kitchen bar counter. "You'll have to go out on a boat."

"I know," Madison shifted uncomfortably, taking a mouth of ice cream.

"You'll be spending your time out there studying a shipwreck," Courtney added, humming thoughtfully. "A literal shipwreck. On the ocean. Lots of flooding."

"I'm aware," Madison mumbled around her full mouth and numb tongue.

"You have told Maxie about your particular brand of phobia, hm?" Courtney gave her a cautious, unnerving grin, and Madison hissed. "It might prove… detrimental to your mission."

"We don't speak of it," she grunted. "I won't let it be a problem. So we don't need to talk about it."

"Apart from when we do," Courtney continued, standing and walking towards a cupboard, her nightgown flapping behind her. "I'm guessing I'm putting coffee on?" Courtney hid a fond smile. "You only come here after midnight when..."

"I hate you." Madison resigned herself to Courtney's care. "I honest to Groudon…"

"Tell me about the dream this time," Courtney replied in her usual metallic, dispassionate tone, and Madison groaned into her ice cream. For a moment, she closed her eyes and listened to the noise of Courtney pouring ground coffee into a filter and clicking it into place, and filling up the small jug with water to pour it into the right slot of the machine. It began to hum with life, and the light trickle of the coffee into the bottom of the jug was enough to take her back into her mind, her fingers clenching and unclenching around her spoon.

"So, er, we were at Mt Pyre…"


	8. Beget: Current Events

**Beget: Current Events**

* * *

Mauville City

* * *

May sucked her lower lip into her mouth, pressing it together between her teeth. The woman in front of her paused for a moment while she dipped the heavy ended brush into her hand, dabbing it into the creamy beige foundation before applying it across May's forehead in circular, swift strokes.

"What do ya think, Addy?" She said to the man behind her as he combed through her hair. "Do we need to go full highlight or is are her cheekbones prominent enough as it is?"

"Hmmm," the man behind her, Adrien, paused, holding his comb in the air for a moment while he pondered. "She's got a good jawline, but her cheeks are naturally rounded and the camera always blurs these things away a little. I say go full contour. Trust yourself, Amy."

"I don't want to make her look too different though," Amy hummed, putting the bottom end of her make up brush under May's chin and using it to jerk her face upright, to see it better in the light. "I mean, everyone knows what she looks like. And like, some people find the whole youthfully pudgy face kinda cute, right?"

"Not on national television they don't," Adrien scoffed. "The camera doesn't just add weight, it can make the wrong face shape go from prepubescent to like, freaking toddler. Plus, she's about as tall as a Whismur. It doesn't help with the whole, spherical baby look we've got going here."

"I'm literally sat right here." May deadpanned, tilting her head back to give him a glare. Rolling his eyes, Adrien tugged her hair sharply to pull her back into place.

"Keep moving and your hair won't be salvageable!" Adrien singsonged, patting her shoulder with a feather light touch that he had seemingly not been capable of when dealing with her hair. "Although it was pretty much that way when you got here; your hairstyle is… unconventional, sweetheart."

"I'm gonna contour," Amy decided; Adrien's words seemed to ring true to her. May pouted, immediately upset.

"Do I get a say?" She dared to ask. Adrien and Amy laughed in the same, high pitched giggle. "I guess not." Amy started preparing a slightly darker cream, so May resigned herself to the shading under her cheeks reluctantly. Then it went at the sides of her nose, and under her chin. A paler cream lined her nose, the bone of her cheek, the shape of her brow. Her hair was tugged back again, the top of her head spritzed full of sea salt texture spray that Adrien kept telling Amy he swore by, and secretive, hidden backcombing for 'just that right amount of volume!' Powder was dusted over her nose, and a pale pink blush brushed over her cheeks at just the right angle. Her eyes were covered in various shades of silvery dust, the lightest around her tear duct and the darkest in the crease of her eyelid and the tips of her eyes, blended recklessly with a rounded brush that made May painfully aware of the sockets of her skull. It felt like her whole face was a wall in a house to be newly decorated after someone had left a dark staining paint on the wall beforehand, and it was to be covered in layer after layer of expensive, thick white goo.

Just as Amy pulled the skin around her eyes tight to flick an inky black liquid liner across her eyelid, she paused for a moment and smiled dreamily. "You've got pretty eyes though, girlie. A gorgeous ocean blue." May suddenly didn't mind them so much anymore, and was much more malleable to their requests as they worked her face and hair to be camera ready.

"So, um," May felt some colour burn around her neck. "This is the network that runs Axel's documentary show, right?"

"Oh Axel," Amy sighed whimsically. Adrien paused, looking away dreamily.

"He's quite the man," he almost purred, before spritzing May's hair with hair spray generously. "Such a love for life in his soul."

"Is he around?" May asked eagerly, biting her lip again in excitement. Amy tutted, and pulled the lip out of her mouth, smoothing a primer cream across them.

"He's filming on location for a while, gotta prep the next season," Amy explained wistfully. "I think he's down south, near Dewford."

"Oh," May sighed. "That's a shame."

"You're not the only lovestruck gal in this building hon," Adrien snorted. "Get in line."

"Behind you?" Amy teased, wiggling an eyebrow. Adrien pushed her away with a playful scowl.

"Behave, girl." He gave a tinkle of a laugh. "I'm sorry, but a man with those kinda cheek bones just can't be straight. I refuse to believe it." May went right back to slightly disliking her assailants. They kept going, the longer strands of May's hair threaded full of extensions, which were being twisted and braided back precisely and delicately, pinning it into an elaborate series of folds and curls at the back of her head, tumbling down to brush the bottom of her neck. It felt unnatural and heavy, and she wasn't a fan.

"How's everything looking?" Caroline's head popped around the corner. She had a clear dress bag hung over her arm and two takeaway cups, one in each hand. Her smile was contagious and excited, and May couldn't help but feel a jolt of nervous thrill at the subconscious reminder she was about to go on live television.

"Just peachy, Mama," Amy gave her a self satisfied smile before continuing to carefully line May's lower lip with a nude pink pencil. "She scrubs up alright, this one!"

"She's got her Mom's genes, after all!" Caroline cooed, putting the takeaway cups down on a counter next to May. "The one on the right is yours, sweetie. They have the nicest flat white coffee here!"

"Amazing," May spoke through gritted teeth out of an attempt to keep her lips from moving. "How do I look?"

"Like a little painted china doll," Caroline cooed. May immediately knew that was the polite code for 'I've got make up wipes in my purse' and relaxed. There was something being brushed across her eyebrows to shape them and she felt herself shrink away. There was a bustle of noise, and a small group of men in blue suits muttering in low voices to each other as they passed by the dressing room, although one or two paused to peer in as they sauntered past, looking to get a eyeful of the Princess of Hoenn. Awkwardly May waved to them as they passed, and they waved back, sniggering between themselves.

"So anyway," one of them said, his voice echoing down the hall as he left. "Phantom's finally cracking, apparently. I heard Shelly say…" his voice trailed off, swallowed by space, and May felt her heart thud loudly in her chest.

"Who- What did they say?" May suddenly asked, swallowing thickly.

"What did who say?" Adrien was separating curls on the back of her head with his fingers. "Honestly, you're so fidgety. Sit _down_." Hands grabbed her shoulders and redirected her back into place, and Amy suddenly clouded her vision, demanding her eyes in certain directions while mascara was brandished at her wildly, no longer precise and delicate like it had been until then. May felt the thudding in her chest get faster and faster, and her breath grew shorter and shorter. Faintly, she wondered if this was what a panic attack felt like.

The room was spinning when they finally moved away, brandishing wriggling fingers in faux goodbyes as they scarpered from the room. Caroline took one look at May and paled, moving forwards to cup her face and hum reassuringly.

"For all of their over the top ideas," Caroline told her lightly, "you do look beautiful. Like you're about to walk down a red carpet. Maybe it's right for this interview, you know. For television."

"I don't look like _me_ ," May complained quietly, but her voice felt hoarse. "Mom I can't do it. I can't go out there, something's just… spooked me and I'm worried. Something bad will happen here Mom, and I want to go home."

"It's okay to be nervous," Caroline murmured soothingly, taking her daughters hands in her own and rubbing her thumb across her knuckles. "I'd be surprised if you weren't."

"I'm not," May began, exasperated, but then coughed and corrected herself. "Alright, I'm nervous, but this is different, I think, I mean, I think we might be in danger if we stay here. There's people here I don't trust." May shook her head, slowly, and her hands were trembling like she'd just woken up from a bad dream. "Mom, please trust me."

"I will always trust you," Caroline assured her gently, "but I think it would draw more attention if you were to run out now." Tilting her head, she smiled. "Whatever it is that's worried you, I won't let them do anything that endangers you in anyway. I'm your Mom, that's what I do." May knew Caroline was saying things to placate her, and that she didn't take her concerns seriously. It was frustrating, but understandable. She was doing a bad job of explaining her fears.

"Did you bring your Pokemon?" May asked anxiously, gripping her mother's hands so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Caroline paused, but then shook her head.

"They're back in Petalburg," Caroline told her unsurely. "I don't like to take them from the greenhouse."

"Alright, well, I know you don't totally believe me when I say this could be problematic," May rambled wildly, "but can you please take Munchlax and Beautifly and hold onto them? So I know you have Pokemon with you who will protect you if anything happens?"

"If it'll make you feel better," Caroline nodded. May smiled a little, and pressed the pokeballs into her hands keenly. "Now, let's get you changed and ready to wow them, hmm? And I might tone down some of your makeup; the eyeliner is cute, but your eyebrows look a little…" she paused. "Heavy."

"I don't even want to look in a mirror," May scowled, relaxing. Knowing they both had ways of keeping themselves safe in the off chance something bad would happen calmed her significantly. She knew her mother could handle herself, and nothing too awful could happen on live television.

* * *

Twinleaf Town

* * *

"Mom!" Dawn's head lolled over the back of the sofa, her hair draping down it in a tumble of dark, knotted strands. "You're taking so long! She'll be on soon, you know."

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Joanna gave her daughter a dirty look from the back of the kitchen. "The perfect cup of tea takes time. It needs time to steep, time to permeate with the milk…"

"Milk, in tea." Dawn scoffed, disbelievingly, and turned her attention back to the tv screen. It had taken her hours (or at least, she claimed it had taken hours) to track down an online stream of the Hoenn Newscast and to run it through her laptop to the television. She had grappled with HDMI cables and sworn at Piplup more times than her starter Pokemon had flippers, but in the end she'd gotten a grainy quality showing of her friend's television interview debut up in her living room. "Honestly Mom, you're crazy."

"Revolutionary, I think you mean," Joanna scoffed. "It's how the cultured drink their tea, thank you." She sauntered through, caressing her mug carefully in two hands, and dropped next to Dawn with a small thud. "You're just jealous that you're having none of it."

"I want literally exactly none of it, Mom," Dawn sighed back, mockingly exasperated. "Isn't this exciting though? May's gonna be on tv!"

"I've never met her before," Joanna pointed out briskly. "I can understand why you're excited but you've gotta remember this doesn't have that same novelty for me."

"You're so boring," Dawn complained, shooting her a glare. "Be happy for her! And be happy for me that I'm happy for her! And be happy for-"

"My goodness, Dawn, chill out," Joanna rolled her eyes, but ruffled her daughter's hair goodnaturedly. "Alright kiddo, it sure is nice for your friend."

* * *

Mauville City

* * *

The glare from the lights above them made the cameras practically disappear. There were a couple of red lights, a prompt screen that scrolled dialogue out for the anchor to read and take topic points from, and nothing else but a sea of black, a shadow in comparison to the harsh, synthetic stage lights. Squinting a little, May shuffled awkwardly in her seat, careful not to wrinkle the carefully pressed cut of her pastel pink and baby blue pencil dress. It cut too close to her legs and made it hard to walk, and her shoes didn't help either. Her mother had argued that she would be sat down for the interview and so it didn't matter if the heels were too high to walk in, but when May had countered that her feet would be hidden by the newsdesk, somehow her mother had chosen not to hear. The set fit the basics of what she knew it looked like from previously watching the news - the desk was long and white, with neatly piled papers that were bound by plastic strips and had small post it notes littered across each page, full of notes and statistics to use for off-script interviewing. But instead of the beautiful sea views and the city landscapes that were normally shown in the background, or the visuals that went along with the different news items, there was a large lime green screen behind them, ready for computer inserts and backdrops. Another difference was the size - when she watched on television May always imagined the newsroom as expansive and airy, but here in person all of the space was swallowed by equipment. The desk felt crowded and claustrophobic, and May had to remind herself to breathe.

" _We're going live in one minute, okay?"_

"You'll be fine," the anchor gave her a cheery smile, the bristles of his beard finely combed down. Realising she had been balling her hands into fists repeatedly, May felt her cheeks grow warm. "See this little thing in my ear here?" He pointed to a small earpiece, tiny and black, and unnoticeable until he pulled his ear open for her. "It's so that when I inevitably fuck up, they can feed me what my next lines are. There's nothing that could happen on live television that hasn't already happened, ya know?" There was the last little remnant of a cough drop between his teeth, and he crushed it ruthlessly.

"Right," May smiled nervously, and nodded a little too fast. "It's no different than a contest!"

"Sure," the anchor nodded noncommittally. "Whatever keeps your cool. Just remember, the camera won't turn out to include you in the shot until I introduce your segment, so just hang tight for now." Soundlessly, he nodded at a cameraman, who in turn nodded at a producer. Slowly, she started a countdown on one hand.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

A little red light went on, a screen at the back of the room flickered on and filled with the anchor's face, and a quiet buzz could be heard if May strained her ear, as if she could hear the static from the anchor's earpiece.

"Good evening, this is Archie Douglas," the anchor introduced himself with a toothy smile. "You're watching the Hoenn Newscast. Our top stories today; Champion Steven Stone has announced a tougher approach to organised criminal activity, and follow up investigations into the actions of groups such as Team Magma." May tilted her head a little so she could better see the screen at the back of the room. Behind Archie, a muted video of their Champion talking to some reporters outside of the buildings at Ever Grande City played. May took the opportunity to study the anchor a little more while he reeled off the news of the day. His eyes were narrow and his arms were thick underneath his pressed white shirt; you could easily tell his arms were strong and built beneath the white fabric without ever looking at them. "He has assured residents of Hoenn of their safety, and to report any mysterious activity or suspicious behaviour to their local police or their closest Pokemon Gym. He has also assured interregional support, and is working closely with the Champion of the Indigo Plateau, which resides over Kanto and Johto, Lance Anguis." The video file snapped away and was replaced with the calming ocean waves that surround Slateport beach. The anchor shifted awkwardly in his seat for a fraction of a second, and took a moment to touch the very ear he'd opened for May to see his earpiece in earlier. May's eyes flickered to him. "In other news, the winner of our recent Pokemon League Championship has lost in the third round of his Elite Four Challenge. Wally Balint stunned the region with his more than impressive display of unexpected strength through the League tournament, and battled ill health to rise through the ranks and win the chance to battle the Elite Four, in order to qualify to challenge the Champion. However, it was in his third match, challenging Phoebe, our ghost type specialist, he struggled with his offensive physical attack based Pokemon team and came up short. Our league correspondent Aidan Gauntlet has more on this story." The red light of the cameras went out. Archie sighed, rubbing his ear again and giving May a slight nod. May grimaced back at him, unable to smile.

The light went red again.

"Our next item focuses upon our recent homegrown champion of the most recent Hoenn Grand Festival, and our very own locally celebrated Princess, May Mable," the anchor offered her a sweeping smile, and May blinked nervously as the cameras swung around and angled to show them both, the screen at the back changing with the movement in the room. Working on autopilot, May gave a beaming smile. "Thank you for coming to see us today, May."

"It's a pleasure," May replied brightly.

"So tell us," he began, folding his arms into his lap and his smile growing almost overbearingly enthusiastic. "How does it feel to be a freshly crowned Top Coordinator? You've certainly taken the region by storm."

"Oh!" May blinked, and blushed with a giggle. "I wouldn't say that much. I have to say, I'm so overwhelmed with everyone's kindness. The whole, Princess, nickname. It's honestly the loveliest thing anyone has ever come up with, and I'm so honoured that the region has been so supportive. Hoenn is the most wonderful home I could ask for, and I was so thrilled that I could win my title here and keep the Ribbon Cup here in the region! And being a Top Coordinator on top of that - honestly it feels like one big fever dream and soon I'll wake up and reality will carry on!"

"I think you'll be waiting quite a while for anything like that," he quipped goodnaturedly, folding his arms into his lap. "Now May, I'm sure you're tired of interviews that ask you mundane things about your career as a coordinator, but I fear I'll have to rehash them for you once again!"

"Oh that's quite alright," May tittered. "I understand the protocol!" He gave her a knowing grin, and she tried to ignore the buzz of feedback coming from his ear. It was beginning to bug her.

The questions were arduous and familiar and the same ones members of the press corp had asked her as soon as she'd won her title, but the anchor filled them with life and a sense of narrative that most interviews missed. They documented her first contest, her keynote rivals, and her biggest inspirations. She talked about her time with Ash and Brock, and her brother, and the competition and support she'd found in Dawn, Harley and Solidad and especially in Drew. She talked about her parents and her goal to make them proud of her. But most of all, she talked of her Pokemon, and the work they'd invested alongside her to make their ambitions come to fruition. He'd asked of what came next, and she honestly replied that she was waiting for that path to make itself clear to her. With time, her shoulders relaxed and she leant back in her seat, her legs crossed casually and her hands fluttering with exaggerated gestures to help her articulate the anecdotes she told and the heartfelt emotion she felt for all of those she told stories of. Some of her hair fell from it's pinned, sprayed mould and fell over her cheek as she joked with her host, roaring with laughter from her belly as he made light hearted quips and observations of some of her more well known friends.

"I have one final question for you, May, before I let you escape into doing something you'd much rather spend your time doing than entertaining my invasion into your privacy," the anchor joked, and May laughed from her stomach. Over the course of their interview she had relaxed, and grown accustomed to his mannerisms and his humour, and the ebb and flow of his voice. He was charismatic and smooth and almost magnetic in his personality.

"Go for it," she grinned, leaning forward and balancing her chin on her wrist, her elbow propped up against the white news desk.

"Name the single greatest experience of your journey," Archie pried, his smile bearing all of his teeth. "Tell me something extraordinary."

Of all the things that May had seen and heard on her journey, and of all the people and experiences she'd shared with them, there was one special moment that had been sitting in her mind for a great many years. Her right hand moved to join her left, where her favourite blue bracelet sat bound around her wrist.

"I met a very special pokemon once," May admitted breathily. It was a topic she usually avoided, but after telling the long tale of her journey, it felt wrong not to include it and celebrate it. The Anchor's eyebrow arched pointedly, the buzz of feedback growing insistent. May chose to ignore it, sighing and plummeting into her memories. "A very rare pokemon. But that's not what was special about them."

"A legendary Pokemon?" He pressed, his voice taking on an unfamiliarly strained tone. May didn't pick up on it.

"Manaphy; The Prince of the Sea," May murmured, almost reverently. "My Prince. I held his egg in my arms as he hatched. We went through so much together in such a short space of time - he even called me his mother. But his place was in the sea, and mine was - well - in contest halls!" Fondly, May stifled a laugh. "He's out there. Somewhere. Doing his job." Her last link to him, she brushed the bracelet with her thumb longingly. "I miss him very mu-"

"Cut the transmission." Archie's voice was clipped and cold, and the room was suddenly black.

* * *

Fennel Valley

* * *

"I can't believe we almost missed it!" Ash complained, craning his neck to get a better view at Gary's PokeNav. It had taken a little artful dodging and some VPN server blocking, but he'd managed to bring up the Hoenn Newscast that the Nav had been originally programmed to have. "I don't get why you couldn't just open the Newscast - you have a Hoenn device."

"Just because I have a Hoenn device, doesn't mean it's set to a Hoenn location. I'm technically streaming this illegally," Gary reminded him briskly. May's face flickered in front of them as she chattered away about the highs and lows of her coordinating career until then, about the places she'd travelled and the people she'd met. "You're getting quite the shout out."

"I taught her everything she knows," Ash declared proudly. "Up to a point, I guess. Anyway, how come you have a Hoenn device anyway? What's the point?"

"I find the Navigational system more useful for my work," Gary told him tersely. "What does it matter? Besides, I didn't want one of those crappy little wristwatch things from Sinnoh. All apps and no substance. These things can actually operate complex software."

"I don't know what you're saying but more power to you, brother." Ash patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. They'd been helping Brandon archive and examine all of his research - or rather, Gary had - to figure out what exactly had been taken, and to start piecing together what it might mean. Ash tended to focus more of his energy on helping tend to the three trainer's pokemon rather than to get in the way. As soon as Ash had noticed the time, he'd dragged Gary away from Brandon's office so they could sit in the shade cast by the great Battle Pyramid and watch the broadcast. Gary wasn't as desperate to watch the showing as Ash, but something about Ash's loyal insistence to support his old companion's first television interview had pushed him to comply. "She looks great, huh."

"Sure." Gary hadn't noticed. "Are you telling me this is the one of your old female friends that you actually harboured feelings for?"

"Feelings? All my old friends make me feel stuff," Ash commented blankly. "Even you."

"Pardon?" Gary's eyes snapped up to meet him, and his shoulders squared to attention.

"Yeah, well I mean they wouldn't be my best friends if they weren't important to me." Ash shrugged, not really understanding, and Gary relaxed, the tension leaving his shoulders. "May has always made me super proud, she's grown so much since she started her journey! I'm really pleased for her."

"Right," Gary smiled, shaking his head a little. "I follow." They watched the screen together in a companionable silence, occasionally tittering at an anecdote they hadn't heard before, or commenting on how pleasant and nice the anchor seemed. Ash noticed as May's hand moved to the bracelet on her wrist, and he gave a shadow of a smile.

"She's talking about Manaphy," he noted immediately. "Did I ever tell you about that?"

"Manaphy?" Gary let out a low whistle. "Another of your legendary pokemon encounters?" Ash laughed, almost embarrassed as he nodded. "You always were a magnet for the extraordinary."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash queried, a little pleased and a little taken back. Gary flushed for a moment, but mostly frowned and scooted backwards a little.

"All the fun things happen for you," Gary dismissed snootily, arching his back and sticking his nose in the air disdainfully. "It's an unbalanced universe. Really, the person researching it and validating it should get to see it. I don't know if I believe half of your silly stories."

"Excuse me-" Ash began, ready to argue against him and refute him with every anecdote he could recall, but the sudden sound of static cut him off. They stared at the black, cut off screen together for a moment, surprised by the sudden loss of signal. The stream had been really reliable until then.

"Maybe my VPN server got found out," Gary suggested. "Probably got caught streaming over here in Kanto. Figures. I doubt there was much of the interview left, anyway."

"Guess so," Ash hummed, unsure. "Something feels weird about it."

"You're making a drama about nothing," Gary stated decisively. "I'm going back in; I'm supposed to be helping Brandon. If you wanna sit out here and stare at a black screen, be my guest."

* * *

Mauville City

* * *

Archie's hand had closed around her forearm, dangerously close to her bracelet, before May could blink. There was a wild, unpredictable gleam to his eye, and he hovered dangerously close to her as he stood from his seat. He towered over her, sharp white teeth dauntingly visible in the darkened room, his build up strength apparent purely by the muscle in his fingers. May shivered, panicked. Her eyes darted back and forth, desperate for an exit, but was always drawn back to those sparkling, sharp teeth.

"Where's my Mom?" She asked, braver than she felt.

"Somewhere." Archie waved off her question indifferently. "I need to ask you some more questions. I'd rather we spoke… off screen."

"It's my turn to get some answers," May countered quickly, using her foot to desperately try to hook the purse she had discarded under the table onto her shoe. Maybe she could nudge one of her pokeballs enough to release a helping hand. "Who - who are you?"

"You know my name," he teased, pulling her to her feet roughly by the wrist, leaving her to stumble upright and too far from her bag to reach her companions. "It's Archie. Did you forget?"

"Why did you cut the transmission?" May continued, ignoring his taunt.

"You mentioned some sensitive information that we would rather keep between friends," Archie continued, dragging her a little closer. "We're friends, right?"

"It remains to be seen," May challenged, suddenly feeling a burst of protective, maternal instinct that fuelled her courage. "Who's we?"

"Well, that's information only my friends get to hear about," Archie teased, his voice as singsong and slick as it was in the interview.

"What - what's the information you want kept quiet?" She pressed, her voice a little shrill. They both knew the answer, and stared each other down forcefully. "Is that why you invited me here for this interview? To learn about Manaphy?"

"Not at all," Archie assured her in a whisper, using his free hand to wipe the loose hair from her cheek. "In fact, you being here right now, is a happy coincidence. Something to be celebrated, really."

"Feel free to elaborate," May muttered, feeling the room grow stiflingly hot, like a bunch of extra bodies were present that she didn't have the light or focus to identify. Her shoes made her feet ache. Her dress made it hard to move her legs.

"We have a… friend, with us. He told us just today you might have some insight with a problem we have, see." Archie's smile grew wider. "A solution. We're very solution driven."

"Phantom." May didn't need to press to confirm her suspicions from what she'd overheard that morning. Regret at letting her guard down, she felt goosebumps break out over her arm. "Manaphy. You want Manaphy."

"He could be of some assistance." Archie closed the space between them, backing May against a painful joint in the chair. "You could be of some assistance."

"To who?" May asked again, desperately.

"Don't you know who we are?" Archie whispered, his free hand cupping her chin and angling it towards his face. She felt his breath across her face. "We're Team Aqua, and I am their leader, Archie."

"My Mom…" May hissed, her eyes narrowing. "Where's…"

"Somewhere." Archie smiled again. May felt her heart thud, just the once, and then she made a quick, executive decision. Reaching down with her free hand, she tore the bottom of her dress open, and in one fluid movement jammed her knee upwards and into the groin of the leader of team Aqua. He spent approximately three seconds recoiling, which gave May time to shed her shoes, reach for her purse and grab the first Pokeball her hand reached.

Glaceon came forth in a burst of light. It illuminated the room for long enough for May to get a grip of the room around her, and how many Team Aqua grunts had flooded into the set. There was no time to think now. She needed light. But how she was going to get it, she wasn't sure yet.

"Glaceon, I need you using your ears and sensing any movement you can." Barking in understanding, her faithful ice type kneaded the floor with her paws, sensing movements in the air as her ears twitched. Even if May couldn't see clearly, she felt confident Glaceon could see well enough for both of them. More flashes of light let May know that several Pokemon were being released silently around her. Each flash illuminated the Pokemon released before it - several Mightyena and Golbat began to surround her. May began to reach for a second Pokeball as Archie interrupted her thoughts.

"Why are we battling, May?" His voice was almost a purr, but it was strained by his obvious pain from her attack. "The offer of friendship still stands." A few lights flickered on overhead; someone had finally decided to put on the normal roof lights, but perhaps not the stage lights or cameras. While there was no transmission, there was no way to get help.

"Where's my Mom?" May repeated, her voice cracking at the end. "What have you done with her?"

"I can assure you she won't be harmed," Archie told her stiffly. "So long as you play nice with your new pals."

"I'm not in the mood for nice," May grunted, before biting her lip. Light meant confidence. Her mouth twitched as she prepared to order an attack, but someone beat her to it.

"Mightyena," one of the grunts threw an arm forward. "Use crunch!"

"Glaceon, evade and twist into Iron Tail!" May knew her experience as a coordinator gave her an evasive edge that most trainers didn't expect, and as Glaceon jumped to meet Mightyena in mid air, before barrel rolling underneath him and slamming him from behind with a strong, glowing tail, the grunt was suitably thrown off. "Follow up with ice beam!" As the first Mightyena was knocked away without much difficulty, and the room was filled with a distinctive chill from Glaceon's powerful attack, the atmosphere in the room changed as May felt she'd recovered a little ground. Archie smiled gently, an oxymoron to the rest of the room slowly closing in. More grunts released Pokemon, the space they had in the room reduced, and the fur on Glaceon's back bristled uncomfortably. May took a deep breath.

"Why don't you just calm down a little," Archie told her lightly. "You can't overpower an entire unit of Team Aqua grunts, and you certainly," he began to scoff, " _certainly_ cannot overpower me."

From that moment, everything seemed to happen at twice the speed it should. There was a loud crash and a bang, and the doors out of the set burst open with a flash of silver light, full of a familiar breeze that set May at an immediate calm. Lights seemed to burn brighter, noise bubbled through the room, and everything began to spin.

"Don't touch my daughter," Caroline warned, a menace laced in her voice the likes of which May had never heard before. Beautifly soared overhead, her wings glowing blue as the many Golbat in the room were hit by the adrenaline fueled psychic attack.

"Mom! You're okay!" May exhaled a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding, and her shoulders sagged in relief. "Glaceon, let's help Beautifly out - Ice Beam - let's take out the floor!" The grunts all surged into action, leaving camera spinning to the floor behind them as they charged at both May and Caroline, but it didn't take long for the floor under their feet to freeze as they skidded to a halt, falling to the floor ungracefully. May's naked feet were cold, but she deemed it a worthwhile sacrifice to see Archie skid, and grab the desk to hold himself upright.

"Sharpedo!" Archie tossed out a pokeball quickly. "Use Night Slash on that fucking Glaceon!"

"Counter, with Iron Tail!" May threw back quickly, throwing her arm to the side as she called her command. Glaceon flew into the air, clashing a steely, bright tail against the water type that materialised before them, ready to slice the Eeveelution with pulsating black fins. They bounced away from each other quickly. "Follow up with Shadow Ball, keep that thing away from us!" May knew when to recognise a powerful pokemon.

"Beautifly, use your silver wind to keep those Mightyena out of our way!" Caroline called, albeit a little unsurely. "Use the ice - make them skid!" Further confusing the dark type pokemon that were struggling to find their feet on the slippery surface, the blast of powerful powdered air made it even harder for them, or their trainers, to find their feet.

"Nice quick thinking, Mom," May complimented breathlessly, a little surprised.

"I picked up a thing or two watching you and your father over the years," Caroline teased, though still obviously unsettled for being thrown into such an intense battle with such little time to prepare a plan. "Are you alright? Have they hurt you? What happened while the cameras were down?"

"I'm fine," May assured her quickly. "Archie - he's the boss of Team Aqua. He wants information on Manaphy. I don't know why, but I don't want to stick around long enough to find out."

"Sharpedo, Aqua Jet!" Archie wasn't wasting time while they caught up. May didn't have time to counter with such a speedy opponent. Glaceon was hit, and critically, by the pointed nose Sharpedo lead with, surrounded by powerful currents of water propelling their attack to hit hard and fast. May ground her teeth together.

"Try to hit back with a Shadow Ball," May called out keenly, and Glaceon jumped back to attention, throwing out orbs of dark, crackling purple light. Most of them missed as Sharpedo wove through the air, but one of them grazed it's fins, slowing him long enough for a second to make a direct hit.

"Munchlax!" Caroline called out the second Pokemon May had lent her. "Use your… metronome?" May gave her a wild, baffled stare, but nodded anyway. "Metronome!" The black and white biped Pokemon yawned a little as he emerged, but as soon as he surveyed the severity of the situation he began to forcefully wave his hands in unison, his fingers twitching backwards and forwards, beginning to take on an ethereal white light.

"Golbat, poison sting, stop him!" One of the grunts got a little noisy.

"Glaceon, jump in with mirror coat and protect him - send it right back!" May ordered quickly. "Beautifly, you take over with Sharpedo - let's see your bug buzz attack!" Beautifly twirled in the air without hesitation, suddenly violently vibrating as she sent powerful sound waves down to assault the water type. Glaceon guarded Munchlax with a reflective glow, before blasting a wide range of the grunt's Pokemon with a super charged poison attack.

Munchlax was ready, and there was another flash of light. The room quietened in anticipation and fear, but then immediately people fell to the floor clutching their ears, groaning under the sudden blast of sound, assaulting the room and cracking windows in half.

"Hyper voice!" Caroline cringed, her hands clamped over the sides of her head. May nodded, straining to keep her focus. She looked around carefully, using the chaos to find something they could use to escape.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a little red light beginning to blink, and the set lights begin to warm up once more.

"Sharpedo, use your hydro pump and drown that noisy brute," Archie called out furiously, his voice louder than it needed to be. He was disoriented from the ringing in his ears.

"Beautifly, Glaceon, keep the grunts busy! Listen to Mom." May shared a look of understanding and panic with her mother. "Munchlax, dodge and start powering up for a focus punch!" Sharpedo soared overhead of them, it's great mouth opening wide and unleashing a torrent of water far stronger than May had anticipated. But Munchlax skidded out of the way just in time, just as Caroline called for Glaceon to knock back an approaching Golbat with an iron tail, and for Beautifly to create some defensive barriers with her psychic attack. The barrier wasn't up in time for the mother and daughter, however, as they became consumed by the very attack that missed Munchlax.

The jet of water propelled them both backwards, slamming their backs against the wall of the newsroom and swallowing their screams of surprise. Chillingly icey water soaked their skin and slammed against them, the liquid feeling undeniably solid as it held them in place. What was actually seconds felt like minutes, but as they crumbled to the floor in a large pool of their assailant, May felt a surge of fury that powered her straight back onto her feet, coughing up a little water as she garbled out her instructions.

"Munchlax, use your solar beam!" Her eyes flickered up to the set lights as they burned brightly overhead. "Take in as much light as you can!" Archie almost laughed at what he imagined would be a fairly weak attack from the environment they found themselves in, but while May helped her mother to her feet and checked she was alright, Sharpedo found himself blasted backwards by an incredible beam of heat filled light.

* * *

Slateport City

* * *

Once again, Paul found himself subject to the calamity of a crowd forming in a Pokemon Center, muttering and talking as they surrounded the communal television, discussing the Hoenn Newscast. It was getting tiresome. However, he had a few more hours to kill before he needed to head for the port to get the boat he'd hired to take him to the shipwreck to the south, so he found he had no other choice but to investigate the latest trashy headline that had captured the minds of those with nothing better to do.

He was on his way to a shipwreck that Brandon had told him about, in a quiet conversation that allowed him to avoid Ash and Gary's input. It was somewhere between Dewford and Pacifidlog, and further west than Slateport, but not a place frequented by typical ship transport so he had limited options in terms of transport. He could hire a private boat to take him most of the way, but then he needed to make some of the way out on his own, relying on his water type pokemon to help him. He'd invested in a wetsuit and a waterproof seal for his bag, but he wasn't looking forward to submerging himself into the ocean. He was glad of the temperate climate of the region. The libraries there were important, Brandon claimed, and held a lot of research and information that Brandon had mostly extracted from the shipwreck years ago. But there were still books, still first hand evidence, and still reasons to explore with his own eyes to better understand the world of research that Brandon plunged himself into.

It didn't help that they had a shared suspicion the research stolen by Team Magma might lead them to similar conclusions.

Aimlessly, Paul listened into the conversations of the masses, leaning back against the wall, as far from them as he could be while still within earshot. He kept his eyes shut gently, and his arms folded tightly. They weren't saying much of consequence, there was merely a general distaste for the signal breaking and the interview they were all apparently so engrossed in losing transmission. A few people were talking about writing to the network, more were concerned with the abruptness of the end. A couple of them were giggling at the seagull animation used when the signal was lost, and there was one, and only one of them, calling to question why Archie had suddenly asked for the transmission to be cut.

Paul's ears pricked up a little at that.

Without warning, there were gasps and exclamations. The signal had been recovered, but at the cost of ignorance. There were shouts of concern and disbelief as they watched the unruly battle unfold between their well known and respected broadcaster, and their new favorite celebrity and her mother. Paul drew closer, eyes wide open and narrowed in focus. Archie, or someone, from somewhere, ordered a hydro pump attack that missed Munchlax and slammed into the women, pushing them back against the wall and soaking them to the core, in a loud burst of a scream and muffled gurgling under the powerful jets of water. When it dissipated, May jumped up faster than she should have been able to and ordered a counterattack from her Munchlax, a Solar Beam or something, while she helped her mother to her feet. Paul hadn't seen the interview, or what state she had been in before the transmission had cut, but he saw her now.

Her hair was limp and full of water, clinging to her skin and dripping down her neck. Black smears ran down her cheeks, but she hadn't seemed to notice. What he could only imagine was once an immaculate dress was torn open at the bottom, the pink and blue fabric frayed and destroyed. Her legs were pale, and yet flushed pink at the bottom with her feet burning red, stood bare on the ice coated floor. Again, she hadn't seemed to notice. Her breath was ragged, and she couldn't stop coughing on the water that kept catching in her throat, spluttering in every breath and command she made. There was a hitch in his throat, somewhere between concern and surprise. There was no real fear, though; instead, he found himself confident. She was raw and uncensored and distanced from herself, and so focused and in tune with her surroundings. She battled with the graces of a coordinator, but combined with an endurance he'd never thought to expect from the girl in the pink. She was beaten down and full of fear and anticipation, but also full of the determination he'd come to begrudgingly associate with her. She looked anxiously at the camera every few moments, panicked, and he could see in the expectation in her eyes that she knew she was the only one who had realised the transmission had picked back up.

"She always was… observant," he hummed under his breath. "Come on, kid. What are you gonna do with it?"

* * *

Mauville City

* * *

"What did you want?" May demanded, her voice catching as she spoke. Archie raised an eyebrow, amused. "Why do you want Manaphy?"

"Is that really your concern?" Archie drawled. "You've obviously opted against assisting us." With a wave of his hands, more grunts called upon more Pokemon, and Caroline's hand found May's, gripping it tightly. "You have a last opportunity to tell us what you know, before we call you into the main base and lock the door."

"The main base?" May pressed, glancing back unsurely. Glaceon pawed the floor again, sensing something new, and gave her a look. She breathed out, slowly. "What base?"

"Team Aqua don't just have control over the Hoenn Newscast, sweetheart," Archie snorted. "We have a wider network than that?"

"I don't believe it," May taunted, coughing a little. "What else could you have control of? You can barely beat out one coordinator and her mother, let alone anything substantial." Caroline squeezed May's hand warningly, giving her a hiss. May shook her head at her mother, smiling a little.

"We have more control than you give us credit for," Archie drawled, approaching her with definitive, prideful strides. "We control the Newscast, we control publications, we control every corporation that deals with any kind of information distribution. Do you know what that means?" Archie quirked a smile. "We control the narrative. No matter the story, no matter the context, no matter the truth. We have the unique power of controlling exactly what the public think, and what the public say. We… I… have obtained the ability to impose whatever emphasis, whatever moral judgement, whatever opinion I deem the region should possess, and thanks to a world where freedom of press is championed as vital, I do so with minimal sanctions and repercussions." He loomed over them once again, the stage light casting dark shadows across his eyes and brows, hiding their glare from May as she tottered back slightly, pulling her mother with her. Pokemon loomed around them, the air full of the flutter of Golbat wings and the ground a maze of Mightyena claws and growls.

"You won't get away with it," May told him simply, in a shaking, almost laughing voice.

"Oh, May. Don't think me so evil." He began to laugh himself. "Who do you think gave you the name Princess?" Smiling, Archie patted her cheek. "The irony of it is not lost on me now. The Princess of Hoenn, mother to the Prince of the Sea. How fitting."

"No, you don't understand," May shook him away, her laughter growing almost hysterical. The room began to shake. "Because you just outed yourself on your own Newscast. And because I don't think the public will take to kindly to the man who just announced he was controlling their opinions. And because I'm pretty sure the authorities are here."

Archie looked up at the red light, and back down at May. And then he looked to the door, and the floor that was shaking with the approaching members of the police and the league. For a moment, he froze, thinking his options through.

"How did the transmission…" He spun quietly, checking the faces of each and every grunt in the room. The exit door opened and shut quickly, but not before he could identify the very assistant he'd fired a handful of days prior. Grinding his teeth together, he turned to the rest of the grunts. "Retreat. Recall your Pokemon, and scatter. Reconvene at the main base." Archie recalled his own Sharpedo, and turned to May with a grunt. "This isn't over."

"We'll see," May replied breathlessly, her back finding the wall, Caroline's hand still fastened tightly within her own.

* * *

The Abandoned Ship

* * *

"Here, we can see some darker breaks in the water out in the depth," Axel explained lightly, his fingers brushing the surface of the ocean beneath them. He leant back from where he'd dangled himself over the edge of the white speedboat, looking into the camera as though it was his old friend, chatting excitably away. "This is a rare phenomena to find so close to the coastal lines, but it's really quite common in the Hoenn region. There are areas here where we can easily plunge to the depths and explore caverns and cravats of the ocean that contain some of the rarer water types, native only to the real depths of the sea. Within this short mini series we're going to be filming, we're going to be exploring the history and mythology surrounding some of the… uh, some of the…"

It wasn't uncommon for other researchers to visit the shipwreck. The backdrop of his shot gave a beautiful, if tragic, outline of the collapsed mass that was once a great sealiner, filled with scientists and academics who explored the oceans and lands of Hoenn. Another boat - a small, black boat, that looked more like a jet than anything else - skidded to a slow crawl not far from him. A woman, accompanied only by her driver, was stood towards the back of it. She was looking up at the ship, curious yet nauseous, gently approaching the wreck. Pallid and uncomfortable, she looked thrown by the sight, but undeterred. Her ash blonde hair caught in the wind, her lips smacked with lip gloss, and Axel immediately knew that the sooner he approached, the sooner that his heart restarted.


	9. Beget: Illusion

**Beget: Illusion**

* * *

Abandoned Ship

* * *

"So." Axel purred, brushing his shoulder against hers nonchalantly. "What exactly were you hoping to find here? What are you researching?" The girl next to him flushed, her cheeks coyly pink against the somewhat pallid white of her skin. It appeared she was under the weather.

"Oh, this and that," she tittered emptily. Axel wasn't fooled though; he could recognise the way her eyes kept sharp, olive green and flickering, keeping note of her surroundings. "My research is history based, primarily. A little… mythology, here and there, too."

"Interesting," Axel hummed, losing his fingers in the dark, thick stubble of his chin. "How did you get into that, then?"

"It was real nice of you to offer to help me track down the library," Her voice was dewey and sweet, and her eyes fluttered one too many times to have not been on purpose. She diverted quickly, but Axel didn't mind the softer, more personal turn to their conversation. "You really didn't have to though, I hate to pull you away from whatever it was you came here for."

"Whatever it is…" Axel smiled, pleasantly caught off guard. "Do you know who I am?"

"Should I?" She blinked at him, surprised. "Do you know who I am?"

"Touche." He stretched his arms up, before dropping one of them around her shoulder snugly, feeling the how stiffly she held her back. "Relax? What's there to be afraid of here, anyway? Are you nervous around me or something?"

"Keep dreaming," she sighed breathily, looking up at him between her lashes. Refraining from laughing to himself, he didn't doubt that he would. Nor did he doubt her words; she seemed very happy to rally back his advances and comfortable enough to keep pace with every quick line he could think of to throw her way. But the way her neck kept rigid in place gave him pause, and he wondered what it might be that kept her posture from mimicking her behaviour. "How long have you been out here? Have you spotted any libraries beforehand?"

"The crew and I sailed in yesterday morning," he replied conversationally, steering her along as they walked together. "Most of my research is based out in the water though, so I haven't really been in here much."

"Oh," she murmured, not bothering to hide her disappointment. He shifted uncomfortably, and her eyes shot straight back to him, suspicious. "Shall we look on the upper decks?"

"Uhhh, if you want." Axel looked away, "I have a good feeling about deeper down though."

"I thought you hadn't been in here much before?" She quipped, her eyebrow arching high.

"I haven't, girl." He rolled his eyes dismissively. She was too quick. "Like I said, a feeling. Trust my instincts on this one."

"Mm. Alright." Her lips quicker into a far too knowing smile, and she allowed him to push her along complicity.

"You never told me your name, by the way, lovely lady," Axel distracted, his grip on her shoulder implying a little more than before. She paused, as though considering something for a moment, before smiling fondly in a direction that wasn't toŵards him.

"Evelyn," she murmured sweetly.

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

There was a little light filtering through the curtains, making it possible to see the outlines of the furniture that hadn't changed since her youth. They'd once left her room in a total inky blackness, back when she had been a child. May wasn't sure whether that had been because of the way the dark had bothered her as a child, and if her memory of it had exacerbated the sheer depth to the nothingness, or if maybe just the years had worn the curtains down a little, and now they let in more sun than they used to. She found herself missing the total blackness. It felt like it might be nice to plunge into nothingness for a while. Tightening her comforter around her, she curled her toes and hugged her knees a little tighter. It was somewhere around noon. Or maybe a little later - early afternoon, she guessed. Her morning at the police department had been exhausting, and once she'd gotten home she'd quickly waved away the concern and questions from her father and brother, and retreated to her space as fast as they'd allow. Her mother seemed similarly withdrawn. Dark circles under her eyes hadn't shifted since the incident with Team Aqua, and May had overheard Max and Norman discussing how easily startled and anxious she had become. She wasn't sure what they thought of her own behaviour though. She wasn't sure it had been all that different, anyway.

There was a lingering suspicion in her mind that she might have slept since blocking the daylight from her room, but May wasn't aware of it if she had. In fact, she didn't really have any concept of how long she'd been there. But that didn't matter so much, it was nice to have a moment to shut down and process the recent events.

There was a knock at the door that broke through her thoughts, and she finally knew for sure that she must have slept when her response came out as though she spoke through layers of clay, cloying her throat, the way it only did after a deep sleep. She was no longer sure it was early afternoon.

"Hey, yeah?" May shook her head a little in an attempt to clear it. As the door opened, a stream of warm yellowing light cracked her room in half, and the glinting light of a pair of glasses peered around the edge.

"Hey," Max greeted her gently, tiptoeing in and closing the door behind him. "You want to stay in the dark right now?"

"For now," May admitted stiffly. The stream of light left with the door clicking shut, and the two were left with only faint shadows and outlines of each other.

"That's cool." Max crept closer, before perching on the edge of her bed. "So, I'm guessing you don't wanna talk about the whole, filing reports thing?" The weight of the bed shifted under the new pressure, and May felt the springs under her back lift a little.

"Nah, not really." May pulled her knees away from her chest, and tilted herself to face him out of habit. "Kinda just stressful paperwork, with added bonus of Mom looking like she was about to pass out the whole time."

"She's never really dealt with that kinda pressure before, I guess," Max offered lamely. "I mean, she could always battle. But it was never with such high stakes. Yaknow?"

"She kept saying to the officers this morning," May's voice fell to a somber whisper, "that she was just… running on adrenaline, the whole time. That - that the most awful thing about it was just worrying that I was going to be hurt. That she was worried she couldn't protect me."

"Are you upset because you don't want her to put herself in danger when you can protect yourself," Max slowed his words, almost nervous to finish his question. "Or are you upset because maybe, that sounds kinda familiar to you."

"I don't know what you could mean." May felt the muscles in her back tighten for a moment.

"You and I both know that they're searching for Manaphy, for some reason." Max lowered his head a little, his voice barely above a whisper. "You ran back into that temple, knowing it was dangerous, knowing you might not come back out again. Because you… had someone to protect. And you didn't stop to think about what you might leave behind, you didn't think, you just..."

"Ran on adrenaline." May felt herself nod, without meaning to, but she hoped it would just be swallowed in the darkness. "Yeah. I'd probably do it again, too."

Max paused for a beat. "You're very similar to them both, you know. Mom and Dad. Every trait you have, you can find it in one of them too."

"DNA will do that." May rolled her eyes, but suppressed a smile. "So are you." She didn't need to see his face to know that would make him grin, awkwardly pleased.

"Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?" Max pressed, a little urgent, but still hushed and unsure.

"What do you think I'm going to do?" May sighed, swinging her legs around a little to sit on the edge of the bed, alongside Max. There was enough space between them that he had to reach out to find her hand and squeeze it. It was either an action of reassurance or a search for it, and May wasn't sure what to return.

"I think you're going to go looking for him," Max's voice cracked in the middle of his sentence. "And I think it's a bad idea."

"Why?" May hummed, noncommittally avoiding the confirmation she knew she'd have to give him eventually.

"Because if you find him, and then Aqua find you…" Max's voice trailed off. "Don't you think that if Manaphy can't be found right now, somewhere hidden in the ocean, then maybe that's the safest place for him?"

"It's my job to protect him." May's voice was uncharacteristically firm, and Max shrunk a little. "It's what… _parents_ do. Right?"

"But maybe leaving him, maybe that _is_ protecting him." Max shrugged his shoulders, knowing there was an increasingly limited chance in convincing her to stay. "Maybe they want you to lead the way to him, to…"

"What if they find him before I do?" May's voice quickly choked. "I can't… let that happen."

"No, I get it." Max stood, releasing her hand. "Just… don't be dumb about it, I guess. I can't stop you, but I wish you wouldn't."

"Thanks for caring." May offered him a sad smile, and Max didn't offer much in return. But as he slipped out of the door, he flicked the light switch, and the room was full of a synthetic white glare, letting reality seep back into vision.

* * *

Abandoned Ship

* * *

The waves were a little choppy, but sailing conditions had been good so far. The sail had been a little longer than he'd expected, getting right into the heart of Route 108. Something about crossing the seas of Hoenn, with that same old Wingull stretching her wings alongside the boat, was soothing and familiar to him.

"I must say, laddy, I was surprised ta see you around these parts again." The owner and driver of the boat was a kindly man, one who Paul had known longer than he cared to admit. "O' course, it's good ta see you! But I was under the impression you'd steer clear of my neck of the woods." The man laughed to himself, scratching the fibers of his skin under wiry white chin hair.

"Well, something came up." Paul kept his response measured and vague. "I'm looking into some research that I might find on this ship. Thank you for accomodating me, Mr Briney."

"Say no more," the old man laughed. "You always were one ta keep your business ta yourself. Why I remember when you were just a wee lad, and trainin' your Turtwig out in Slateport beach. I tried ta get you ta chat, but you were… let's call it politely disinterested." He let out a louder, heartier laugh.

"I don't like to waste time," Paul grunted by means of explanation.

"Oh I know, I know," Mr Briney shook his head from side to side, stifling a grin. The wind picked up a little, and pulled back some of Paul's hair. The sun was bright and it made him squint. "It's nice ta see you able to ask for help though, these days. Like I said, I sure was surprised ta see you a year or two back, and I'm surprised ta see you again now."

"You said if I needed transport again I could come to you," Paul grunted, not wishing to continue talking.

"And I meant it," Mr Briney assured him quickly. "I just remember a very angry wee ten year old telling me very forcefully you wouldn't need my help again after this."

"I wasn't angry," Paul corrected, stiffening in his seat.

"Oh, you were angry," Mr Briney laughed. "Perhaps not with me, laddy, but with someone." The boat shook a little against a particularly heavy wave. "I don't think you said one word as we sailed together, you just let me witter on. I was never really sure if you were listenin'."

"I was." Paul pursed his lips, looking down. "Your stories, and adventures, they interested me. You've seen a lot in your time."

"Thank ya, lad." Mr Briney brightened at that. "I'm glad to hear my rambling on held some kind of interest for ya. Isn't that right, Peeko, darling?" The wingull that flew alongside their boat resolutely let out a long, chipper crow. "Did I ever tell ya the tale about landin' a Relicanth? Now that was a big day!" Paul shook his head, looking to the man with a quiet, polite intrigue. "Ah wait, we can see the outline of the ship now, just up ahead. You see it?" Paul stood, stepping to stand by the man at the helm of the white, well cared for boat, and looked out into the distance. Sure enough, a faint outline of a shipwreck was growing larger and more defined at a rapid speed. "I can tell ya the tale when ya done with your research, lad. Me and Peeko can sit out and soak up some sun till ya finished."

"That's kind of you, thank you," Paul murmured, mostly to himself. The wind caught most of his words, but Mr Briney's pleasant, toothy grin told him he'd heard. Taking advantage of the last of his time, he grabbed his grey, worn rucksack from underneath the bench he'd previously been sat on, which skirted the edges of the lithe boat. Checking through for his usual supplies, he made sure he had his camera and notebook in the front pocket. Easy to access, ready to use.

"Looks like yer all set lad," Mr Briney began to slow the boat a little as the sea around them grew shallow. "I can't take ya out much further than this, the water gets too shallow this time o' day. But I'll come in closer when I can as the day goes by - and the sea shouldn't be too much higher than yer knees from here."

"That's fine," Paul nodded, before tucking his trouser legs into his thick boots. They were pretty water proof, as was the fabric of his pants. "I shouldn't take longer than a few hours once I find the libraries."

"Of course," Mr Briney pulled a few breaks, before taking a cooler out from a compartment near the driving controls. "Don't worry about us, the sea air is good for Peeko. She loves a change o' scenery, this girl, you're doin' us a favor."

"See you soon." Paul swung his legs over the edge of the ship, and plunged into the sea beneath them. As Mr Briney had predicted, it barely reached his knees. Beginning to wade towards the shipwreck, water had already begun to seep into his shoes and his trouser seams.

"Good thing ya taller than ya were back in the day, huh?" Mr Briney guffawed. "Take yer time, we'll be here!"

The Sea Mauville was a tragedy of years gone by. It had been a research ship, traveling every corner of Hoenn and studying everything from the biology of the different pokemon it found, to the history of the places it uncovered. When the ship crashed, during one of the worst storms ever to hit Hoenn's seas, no survivors were found, but incredulously, a set of libraries filled with years worth of work and study from a wide variety of academic discipline were found. Most books had been transferred to the Universities of Lilycove and Rustboro and their surrounding museums and libraries, but some were left in the libraries of the ships, copies made and originals preserved in the place they were found. Hoenn had always been sentimental of it's history.

The closer Paul came to this great dilapidated white structure, he could make out other, smaller boats in the distance. Some were empty, and some were filled with men fidgeting with expensive camera and audio equipment, preparing to film. Immediately, Paul felt exasperated. He had no time to engage in some documentary that wouldn't touch upon the truths the Sea Mauville held for him. In an attempt to avoid all human contact possible, he aimed for the other side of the ship to the smaller boats, hoping to find a separate entrance.

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

Norman couldn't cook. It was an area in his life he sorely lacked skill and precision, and as much as he knew Max had fared for himself on many journeys, it seemed as though his son was without advice of how to assist him.

"What do you mean you don't know how to make food?" Norman hissed, his voice hushed and frantic. "You've been travelling since you were ten, and you don't know how to make food?"

"I know how to heat up stuff from a can, and how to take bread out of a packet to eat alongside it," Max told him dryly. "I'm guessing you didn't do much cooking in your travelling days?"

"I didn't need to - I had my bike! I was in the next town fast enough to not need to camp, from sixteen and up. And before then, I traveled with some friends who dealt with all… of that." His voice tailed off meekly, and he felt ashamed. He and Caroline had a system. A good system. While he could not cook, he could damn well show his appreciation for Caroline's ability to provide by cleaning every dish he came across after every meal. "Your mother is in no state to cook right now. She's taken everything quite hard."

"No, I know." Max paused, thinking. "I don't think we should ask May, either. She seemed pretty low when I spoke to her just now."

"Do you really think it would be wise to let her loose in the kitchen, either way?" Norman scoffed. "Either way, they had a rough time of it. It's our job to look after them. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Isn't that what you say to Mom when you don't know what to do and you want her to magically remove all of your problems?" Max rolled his eyes.

"One day," Norman told him briskly, "you'll understand. Anyway. I'm guessing that's a no, hm?"

"A really solid, unhelpful no," Max confirmed. "Although…"

"I guess we could…" Norman paused, arching an eyebrow. The same thought passed between them at the same time.

"It's for a good reason," Max reasoned lightly. "Neither of them are in a good place, and it's like a nice moral boost."

"Everyone needs a moral boost sometimes." Norman felt immediately swayed. "I don't know how. Do we have any menus?"

"We don't need them, everything is online," Max scoffed. "Honestly Dad, how do you not know how to order take out."

"Your mother…" Norman swallowed unsurely. "Do what you need to do."

"Ridiculous."

* * *

Abandoned Ship

* * *

Madison stood apprehensively by as Axel hummed, stretching his arms upward as he stared at the problem before them. They had searched the lower decks, had faced this issue, and so doubled back and searched the upper decks. This seemingly dead end was the only way to search deeper into the ship's ruins. Water lapped upwards, unsettlingly not still as it rippled by their feet, vast and dark and consuming. Madison hadn't even realised she was trembling until Axel patted her on the shoulder.

"Are you alright, Evelyn?" He murmured, his fingers unbearably warm around her shoulder.

"Hm?" Her eyes flicked up to his, wide and honest in their nerves. "Oh yes. I'm fine. I suppose we shall have to dive through this water, won't we?"

"Yeah, probably." Axel clicked his tongue. Submerging himself in the water was natural and easy for Axel, he'd spent his life growing up in the shores of Slateport where he would swim and soak up the sun and the sea for hours on end. It was strange to see someone so visibly repulsed at the thought of it. There was some thought of opportunity, some rare attempt to be heroic, some illformed plan of winning her over, and he let it run amok in his mind, almost giddy with excitement. "You can be honest, Evelyn. If you're nervous."

"I'm not nervous," her voice came out sharply, a tone he hadn't anticipated being possible from her. Watching her quietly, Axel spotted a slight tremor run through her fingers. Bravely, he took her hand with both of his, turning her to face him. Slowly, he separated her fingers, one by one, opening so they fanned out before him. Her skin was soft, but tight against the bones in her hand. Axel laced his fingers through hers, holding her eye contact carefully. They were a pretty shade of olive, a mix of woody browns and leafy greens.

"Okay," Axel said softly. "You're not nervous. I've got Pokemon that can get us through this water in a heartbeat. Do you have any water type pokemon?"

"No," Madison shifted awkwardly, a little taken back. She wasn't sure how to process the feeling of his palm pressed against hers, or the tight, safe grasp of his fingers pressing into her knuckles. She let out a long breath, and it shivered between them.

"Cool, you can share Gyarados with me," he offered plainly, smiling. "He's my oldest friend. Do you have a Pokemon like that? One that's been more than just a partner - they've seen your highs, and your lows, and they've helped cultivate you as a person?"

"Yeah." Her mind flickered to Ninetails, and to Braixen. There was nothing else on this earth she trusted so instinctively as she trusted them. "Why do you ask?"

"So you know you can trust Gyarados, so long as you trust me." Axel gave her a sly grin. "Trust me?"

"Absolutely not," Madison retorted primly. Somewhere in their conversation, she forgot to keep her guard and her act high. Her chin jutted upwards, defiant. He skimmed a finger across her cheekbones, feeling the powdery mask of her make up that sharpened and hardened her face. "Why are you touching me?"

"For the same reason you're gripping my hand so tight." Axel shrugged, and Madison looked at their clasped hands, aghast. Her subconscious was winning out. "Trust me, don't trust me, whatever will help you keep calm. Though of course, you're not nervous at all. But we're going to get you to that library, and we're gonna have to dive through to the lower levels to do that. Gyarados won't keep us underwater too long that we can't breathe, but it'd be good to take a deep breath before we go under, okay?"

"How do you know there's somewhere to come up other than here?" Madison asked, her voice a little quieter now.

"I'll send Gyarados to scout it out before we go anywhere," Axel offered, giving her a reassuring, winning sort of smile. "Maybe while he's gone you can tell me the story of why you're so apprehensive around water?"

"That sounds too much like letting my guard down," Madison joked, awkwardly laughing, though uncomfortable with how true it seemed to strike. Axel released her hand, backing away with his hands up in surrender, still grinning. It was a boyish, enticing grin, one that made Madison sure he was not always so soft and so gentle. His hand went to his jacket lining, and a pokeball quickly enlarged in his fingers.

"Gyarados," he called out, naturally and comfortably. "Come lend us a hand, would ya?" He tossed the red and white ball high, until it dissipated in a blinding flash that slowly took the form of the giant sea snake. He was well raised and cared for, and healthy. Madison logged it as one of the largest Gyarados she'd ever seen, with beautiful blue scales that shone in the reflection of the water. He let out a grumble, adjusting itself to the cramped ceiling of the ship hallway, but letting his tail dip down deep into the water. "Can you go see if there's any dry area further down we might be able to explore?"

"Thank you," Madison mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck unsurely. Gyarados let out a friendly grunt, and dove down swiftly, his tail flicking up behind him as he swam away. Rolling his shoulders back, Axel turned to her with a glimmer of something in his eyes she couldn't quite pin down.

"So, what university are you with?" He asked pleasantly, keeping his tone light and conversational.

"Uh, university?" Madison blanked.

"Well, you said you were studying, and researching, right?" Axel's lips curved up at each side, like he'd suspected something not quite being right for some time. "So I just figured…"

"Oh, sorry. I spaced out for a moment!" Laughing behind her fingers, Madison tried to regain some ground. "Uh, I'm with Lilycove University. They're trying to expand their history department further than just the history of art, yaknow?"

"You should have come to Slateport, we have all sorts of great resources," Axel told her brightly. "Well, the science departments are all fantastic, at least."

"Not great for the humanities, though," Madison teased. "Which I think is rather shortsighted."

"Well, the important crux of this conversation," Axel diverted, standing a little closer to her again, "is that if I were to be in Lilycove, and to stop by the University and ask for Evelyn from the History Department, I might be able to track you down?" Madison went quiet for a moment, smiling sweetly at him.

"Yeah." She lied with complete conviction, and he grinned that sweet, boyish grin. A gush of water became easy to hear, and they turned to watch Gyarados erupt from the surface together, stood side by side. Madison flinched from the spray of water, but Axel wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kept her steady.

"Gyarados, did you find anything?" Axel called up. The great water type swung his head in a nod, before lowering his neck down to allow them both to climb aboard. Madison was visibly apprehensive, but Axel swept behind her seamlessly, his arms securing around her waist as he lifted her up. Squeaking, she was about to protest, but he'd already settled her in place upon the back of his most trusted pokemon, and was gearing up to sit just behind her. "If you can, you should try and open your eyes under there," he told her gently, his voice a warm whisper in her ear. "Everything is more beautiful underwater."

She didn't respond. Instead, she bowed herself forward, fastening herself to the mass of Gyarados' neck, closing her eyes tight and trying to regulate her breathing. Axel smiled softly, despite himself, and rubbed a hand along her back reassuringly. He felt each section of her spine pressing through her shirt.

"Gyarados, let's make this quick," Axel requested softly. He leant his body over her, and held her in place. "Take a deep breath, Evelyn. Let's go!"

In moments, they were submerged. Madison took a breath so big she couldn't quite hold onto all of it, and some of it bubbled past her lips and away from her as they swept through the water. It was chillingly cold, and she could feel every mineral and salt in the water pricking at her skin. For every second she felt the cold water touch her skin, she felt it burning. She blankly wondered if this is what being submerged in acid felt like.

 _Take a deep breath, Evelyn_

The words circled her mind dizzyingly, mockingly, endlessly. Her head felt light and swam with rouge, panicked noises she couldn't put into order to make words. Every muscle in her body was tense, rigid, ready to bolt at the earliest possibility.

When they broke the surface of the water once more, she let out a choked, hollow screech scrambling higher and higher, getting herself as far removed from the water as possible. She coughed and spluttered, despite no water being in her mouth or lungs, blindly pushing forwards to escape. The water spray from their arrival flew out into a new, long hall, and Axel didn't have the heart to remind her they'd need to go through the water once more to leave the ship safely. He watched her, baffled, as she rung out her hair wildly, her eyes wide and alive with pure adrenalin and fear. She pulled herself up so violently, so haphazardously, that it seemed likely that she would,

Fall.

"Evelyn!" He jumped to attention, jumping from Gyarados' back to follow her towards the water. His arms found her in the water, and he pulled her up quickly, trying to keep her still and calm for long enough to get her to the surface. She gripped at his shoulders and his neck like he was all she had, heaving weakly in his arms as he wrapped around her, murmuring soothing, sweet noises as he treaded water enough to keep them both afloat. "Evelyn. It's okay, you won't fall again."

"Air," she panted, slapping the water aggressively.

"Air," Axel agreed solidly, dragging her from the water towards the solid floor of the continuing corridor. Gyarados curled his tail around them instinctively, and pushed the flow of water so it would help shift them along to the broken floorboards. Axel hoisted her up first, so she could sit and push herself backwards, and he followed quickly after.

"Floor," Madison breathed, her fingers fumbling around her, appreciating the solid material underneath her and exploring it desperately. She lay flat on her back, her wet hair sticking to her neck, her clothes clinging to her every move, and her face feeling suspiciously liquid.

"Floor." Axel hovered over her, wringing out his shirt nearby. "Your face is quite the picture."

"You must think I'm pathetic," she suddenly murmured, pulling herself upright. "So weak, and scared, and nervous. This isn't who I am, you know."

"I believe you," Axel assured her, though not facing her. "It takes someone pretty sturdy to make their way out to an abandoned ship when they're terrified of water. I don't think you're weak." She sat upright, and looked at him carefully. He seemed sincere.

"Thank you." She said it without meaning to, but Madison found herself smiling anyway. Axel was a strangely calming presence.

"Come on. Let's keep looking." He turned to her, and Axel offered her a hand. "Your makeup has all run."

"I guessed." Rubbing pointlessly under her eyes for a moment, in an attempt to rub away the black lines she was sure were running down her cheeks, she struggled to stand without his help, but he grabbed her arms and pulled her upright anyway. "Let's go."

* * *

Twinleaf Town

* * *

Haphazardly, Dawn threw herself into her closet once more and rooted around, trying to find appropriate wear. She hadn't been to Hoenn for many years, but she remembered it was just as fickle in its weather as Sinnoh could be, but instead of bitingly cold winds and snowfall, it was blazing heat and tropical thunderstorms that took you off guard. Waterproof, but cool clothing.

"Are you sure about this?" Joanna hovered by the door uncertainly. "It doesn't seem the safest place to visit."

"It's not really a visit," Dawn reasoned boldly, pulling out a small raincoat that could fold into itself. Perfect for travel. "I just want to be available to my friend, if she needs help. Trust me, May would do the same for me."

"I don't doubt your friendship," Joanna assured her quickly, leaning against the doorframe. "I just wonder if she'd want you to plunge yourself into that kind of danger, too."

"If there's one thing I learnt during my travels, it's that anyone can help." Dawn gave her an unwavering smile. "Anyone can do anything at any moment that can make things easier for someone else. I just want to give her the option of relying on me."

"You're unstoppable sometimes, you know that?" Joanna coughed to hide a small, proud smile. "I always forget how much like him you are."

"Don't draw those kinds of comparisons to try and guilt me into staying Mom, that's just manipulative." Dawn laughed hollowly to try and project some kind of humour over her statement, but her intent rang a little too true. "I'm not going to get myself hurt or anything."

"I know." Joanna lied. That rang a little too true, too. "I trust you, though. If you really feel this is what you need to do."

"I do." Dawn pulled out her trusty pink linen shorts; moveable and breathable, but cute and wearable. "This is right."

"What pokemon will you take?" Joanna asked cautiously. "Do you want to borrow any of mine?"

"Nah, I'm good, but thanks." Dawn flashed her a big, confident smile. "Piplup, obviously. Lopunny and Mamoswine and Pachirisu, and maybe Quilava and Togekiss. Together I know we can handle whatever happens and whatever is thrown at us!"

"Alright." Joanna moved over to her small yellow pack, and checked what else she was taking. It was lighter than she expected when she lifted it, and found Dawn's water bottle and her collapsable travel gear, alongside her wallet and a light sweater. Piplup was snoozing next to it, dead to the world, but knowing Dawn would have him with her made Joanna feel just a little better. "You'll have your Pokemon with you, and you'll be with your friends." It was more of a statement to herself, but Dawn took heart in it.

"No need to worry, right Mom?" She smiled sweetly at her mother, taking a moment to touch her shoulder gently. They were the same height. Joanna wondered incoherently when that had happened.

She left her usual response unsaid, but it lingered between them anyway.

* * *

Abandoned Ship

* * *

Madison poured over one of the books carefully, sat cross legged on the floor as she delicately separated pages that had stuck together over time. In all this library, there was only one bookcase left, the rest removed and imported around Hoenn for further study. The only remaining texts were those left of the shipmen's diaries, left to keep the historical site in its authentic state. There were stories, some full of untamed, uncensored stories of life on the sea, there were some findings by the various academics who travelled on the liner, and there were some observations by the captain himself, studying the conditions they found and the places they travelled. Each page was full of new, exciting tales that felt so real and tangible she could almost hear his voice murmuring in her ear as she read. For all the variety in the studies they'd done, from biological to historical, from artistic to literary, from the land to the sea, they all seemed to focus towards their one aim, their last goal.

She came to the last few pages, the final chapter, and her heart came to sit in her throat.

Orbs. They kept coming back to these orbs that they'd seized from Mt Pyre, and the caverns containing the legendary pokemon that they had hunted for for many years - almost decades. The travesty that wrecked havoc upon Hoenn was at their hands, and there was no way to control it. Not once the orbs were lost to the souls of some of the ship's crew; those in charge of keeping them safe had been taken mad by them, transfixed by their beauty. And once they were lost, their chance at controlling these titans had been lost too. Groudon. Kyogre. The storm that shipwrecked them was the storm they had created.

Taking out her phone, she began to photograph passages cautiously, careful to have the focus right so that the writing was legible.

"What have you found?" Axel asked, looking up from another book he had been similarly transfixed by. He picked up a small pebble from under the bookcase and used it to weigh down the page he'd been on, so that he could approach her and read over her shoulder.

He was harmless, and kind, she reasoned.

"Come look," Madison murmured, showing him the last few pages. As he read through them, she summarized the previous chapters and the tale of how they had come to own these orbs. He looked up at her, eyes glittering and wide.

"Kyogre," he whispered, reverently. "In all my years studying water pokemon, Kyogre has always been just out of my reach. Would you mind if I took some photos as well? It's been my… lifelong dream. Just to see him, the once." There was a soft, but powerful will in his voice that made her heart beat a little harder than she wanted.

"Of course," Madison smiled serenely. "What is an academic if not someone who wants to further every field of knowledge possible?"

"I concur," Axel grinned, and she giggled. Madison couldn't remember ever feeling so at ease. "Nerds have to stick together. Or something."

"Or something!" Laughing, she bumped him with her shoulder, passing the book to him so gently, as though scared it might rip. It took moments of him beginning to skim the pages again, tracing the writing with his fingertip, before Madison jumped to life, enlarging a pokeball behind her back. "Look out!"

"What?" Axel ducked down, covering the text with his body. Madison tossed her Pokeball high, and Ninetales landed gracefully, swishing her beautiful cream coloured fur readily as she prepared for battle, before it pricked up, sensing the danger before it quite materialised.

A low groan, followed by a high screech, and Axel went white.

"Ninetales, use will-o-wisp," Madison instructed calmly. "Not to attack… just locate." Bristling in understanding, small purplish orbs that flickered with ethereal flames began to burn around Ninetales and slowly explore the room. They travelled uninterrupted for a time, exploring the corners and sides of the room cautiously, until one stopped. The others rushed to join it, forming a circle around the small pebble that Axel had used as a paperweight.

"What the hell is happening?" Axel hissed through clenched teeth.

Madison didn't waste any time. "Ninetales, burn it." The purple orbs surged inwards, searing whatever creature was contained within it. There was another screech, higher, and more piercing this time. Suddenly a shadowy figure appeared, lined by green, with a unreal, smokey form that seeped through the room. Wild, spiral eyes peered at them, leering at them warningly.

"What's… that?" Axel gaped, his fingers trembling around the book as he stood by her side.

"Spiritomb," Madison replied calmly. She glanced at his shaking hands. "You okay?"

"Not good with ghosts," he admitted weakly.

"Well, it's my turn to even the score," Madison told him fiercely. "Stay back, okay? Ninetales, get right in with your flamethrower!" Her trusty white fox leapt forward, letting loose a white hot stream of fire that Spiritomb seemed to absorb carelessly, though letting off another of its grumbling moans. It responded with a shadow ball, materialising faster than Madison expected, and it slammed right into the side of Ninetales without warning. "Ninetales!"

"It's so fast," Axel breathed, partly in admiration and partly in sheer trepidation. Ninetales let out a long, pained whine.

"It's okay girl, we've taken on bigger beasts than this," Madison reminded her friend quietly. "Come on. Let's think strategy." Spiritomb was approaching, swelling in the air before them and sending out a black beam of nothing, cutting through the air and aiming right for Ninetales. "Roll - dodge!" Ninetales kept low to the ground, spinning out of the way in the last moments. "Good girl. Strike back with confuse ray, let's try and mislead it." A blue light filled the room, focusing from Ninetale's eyes and leading straight to Spiritomb, who stopped, and wobbled a little in the air, losing form for a moment.

"It's working…" Axel commented quietly.

"Now, Ninetales, flamethrower again!" Madison turned to Axel unsurely. "Usually I'd use extrasensory, I'd make the most of the confusion and try and baffle it a little more. But Spiritomb… psychic type moves don't work, right?"

"I wouldn't know," Axel admitted honestly. "If it's anything other than water types, especially ghost types, I'm pretty unaware." Ninetales leapt forward aggressively, letting loose another great beam of fire from her jaw, doing a little more damage than just being absorbed by Spiritomb's less than solid form. Spiritomb jittered in the air, unsure, before letting loose a painfully bright white light and then surging towards Ninetales menacingly, dipping into the shadows they cast on the floor, approaching at a terrifying speed.

"Shit," Madison paused. "Fire a flamethrower straight up, fill the room with sunlight by getting rid of the roof!" Axel blinked, taken back. Soon a great torrent of fire filled the room with red light, and burned through the ceiling and then subsequent upper rooms of the ship. Ninetails kept at it, filling the room with beams of light until at last no roof was left at all. With no shadows, Spiritomb had nowhere to hide, and was forced to resurface, dizzied by the light. "That's good. It can't use shadow sneak anymore."

"It's not down yet though," Axel warned, and as he spoke Spiritomb began to charge up a second shadow ball, a little slower than it did the first time.

"Stay low," Madison growled. "Till the last moment. Watch." Ninetales dipped low again, her fur bristling as she felt the movement in the air. As the shadow ball released, Ninetales jumped, kicking off from the projectile and flying towards Spiritomb gracefully. It looked like a move they'd practiced for decades. "Close range, one last shot. Flamethrower!" Finally, one last blazing hot jet of fire was released right in the ghost type's face, and reduced it back into it's pebble, wailing and screeching with every particle of smoke that was sucked back into its resting place. Ninetales panted for a moment, looking back at her trainer with a wearied glare.

"Incredible," Axel commented quietly, still quite shaken from the presence of the pebble. "You're… powerful."

"Ninetales and I have been together a long time," Madison shrugged, kneeling so that her friend could approach her. "She's tough."

"Was she your first pokemon?" Axel asked politely, reaching across to pet the fiery quadruped. Ninetales jumped back from him, snarling.

"No, my first pokemon was a Fennekin, who's now my Braixen." Laughing a little, Madison rubbed Ninetales between the ears. "Sorry, she doesn't like people. Most of the time she's not really a fan of me, either."

"Sure," Axel blinked. "So I'm guessing your Braixen is something else, too." Madison's nose went a little pink.

"I guess." She tried to derail the conversation. "How are you? You were pretty shaken up for a while there. I don't think the colour is quite back in your face yet." Axel looked away, coughing for a second.

"Yeah, I'm good." He cast a suspicious glance at the pebble. "Can we get rid of that?" Madison laughed.

"I think if we disturb it, it'll just come back," she reasoned gently. Axel nodded, unable to argue. "If you're feeling uncomfortable feel free to head back." Glancing upwards, she smiled. "I can get out without going back through the water. My Fletchinder just evolved into a Talonflame, so he can fly us out."

"That's good," Axel gave her a pleased smile. "Glad you don't have to subject yourself to that again. And with your permission, I might… stop subjecting myself to this." He laughed unsurely. Taking a small camera out from his waterproof jacket, he snapped a few pictures of the last few pages of the book. He left the book on the top of the bookcase, shutting it gently with a quiet thud. "This should help my research a lot, you know. So thanks."

"No, thank you." Madison emphasised her words a little wistfully. "You're very kind to come all this way with me, and take so much time away from your studies."

"It was my complete, and total pleasure." He gave her one of those blisteringly wide grins that made her heart skip, where earlier in the day they had only irritated her. "I'll look you up sometime, Evelyn. Lilycove University?"

"I'll be there," Madison replied weakly, a little sad. He left the room by walking backwards, smiling nervously and waving awkwardly. She gave him a long last look, and a lingering smile.

The door shut behind him, and there was no more time to think.

"Court," she murmured into her phone, giddy. "Are you getting this? The pictures I sent? There's so much information on how we can control the titan, and how we can avoid losing control like they did. Honestly, taking Brandon's research has lead to such a fucking goldmine, we're getting so close."

The door swung open again. The dying romantic in her blushed for a moment, and Madison turned, expecting a last goodbye from Axel.

Instead, a man she'd never met before, young, with shadows under his eyes and lilac hair that fell over his ears, stood and shook with quiet fury.

"You," Paul accused. "This is all your fault."

"I gotta call you back, Court," Madison smiled, a touch of menace lacing her lips as they stretched. "I have some rodent issues to attend to."

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

It was the smell of molten cheese and tomato that drew May from her isolation, as she prowled through the corridors and approached the kitchen with anticipation and excitement. Caroline beat her there, sniffing unsurely as they opened the door through together.

"We ordered out!" Max cheered triumphantly.

"Comfort food," Norman elaborated, grinning smugly. "We got your favourites!"

"Nothing gross like pineapple," Max assured them brightly.

"I like pineapple," Caroline mumbled, but smiled all the same. It wasn't long before they all huddled together, savouring hot, cheesy mouthfuls, nestled on the living room sofa, with Norman and Caroline sat upright with the children sat on the floor facing them, the box of pizza conveniently in the center. They wasted time together beautifully, filling time with silly jokes and nostalgic stories. Gentle touches between father and daughter, or mother and son, with sweet hand touches and fond glanced exchanged. Caroline would give May a knowing smile, and Max would lean into his sister, and Norman would ruffle his hair. Max and May would tell stories of their travels in turn, or occasionally of their times travelling together in tandem, swapping back and forth for sentences, and Norman would wrap his arm around his wife, kiss her on the forehead, and smile proudly at his wonderful family that finally seemed to all fit together.

"Pineapple is a sin on pizza," Max justified bravely. "It's a fruit. Fruit doesn't go on pizza. You don't see me chopping up a bunch of oran berries and sprinkling them on my ranch barbecue pizza, do you?"

"Hey Max, remember what else is a fruit?" Caroline retorted smugly, leaning into him and squeezing his cheeks. "Tomato." Max recoiled, reevaluating, and Norman laughed loudly, leaning back his head and relaxing completely. May smiled, looking amongst her family.

There was something missing.

"I have to leave in the morning," May interrupted. Everyone quieted, and looked to her silently. Norman opened his mouth, but then closed it. "There's something I need to do."

"May," Max cut her off, reaching across and holding her hand. "No, there isn't."

"They're looking for Manaphy," May voiced firmly, looking firmly at her lap. "Manaphy… I'm the only family he has. And you protect family, right? That's what…"

"That's what we am supposed to do, for you." Norman shook his head slowly, heavily. "May, your mother and I are supposed to protect you. You do not need to leave. Manaphy is a mythical being, rare and elusive and unattainable. Wherever he is, he will be safe."

"If I was somewhere you there, with no idea of if I was really safe or not, you would follow after me." May shrugged, still not meeting his eyes. "Because that's just what you do, isn't it. So please respect that… this is what I need to do, too."

"These people are dangerous, May," Caroline murmured sweetly, brushing some hair from her cheek. "You… might not be so lucky next time."

"Unless," Norman began to grow haughty, "you fancy yourself able to fight off an entire criminal organisation. That winning a Grand Festival qualifies you to be a guardian for a legendary pokemon, or something ridiculous like that." May's eyes flashed up to meet his, hurt.

"What will it take for you to consider me capable?" May asked weakly. "What would I have to do?"

"This isn't a question anymore, May." Norman stood, wiping the crumbs from his lap. "You're not leaving until this whole thing is resolved."

"I fought them off once," May reminded him quietly, getting to her feet as well. She locked eyes with him, scared they were brimming with tears and that he might constitute that as weakness. "And I can do it again."

"You're never going to find that out." Norman ground his teeth together. May didn't say another word, but turned on her heel and left the room, keeping her footfall brisk. It suddenly felt cold, like she'd had her head plunged into icy water and she was wide awake and trembling.

"I'm done trying to live up to your standards," she breathed, knowing he couldn't hear. "I'm done."

Norman was stuck somewhere between pride and fury as he watched her go.

* * *

Abandoned Ship

* * *

His head spun as he tried to sit upright, but it was a struggle. There had been fire. And shapes. And a Braixen. And her - she had stolen his father's research.

Slowly, as the pieces of the battle came together in his head, he suddenly felt weak and helpless. What time was it? He looked up, where the roof was strangely nonexistent, and saw stars. His first thought was of Mr Briney, and whether he was alright, but he was confident the old man would have waited patiently. The next was of Gastrodon, who when he looked up, he noticed was just as out of sorts as he was, weakly straining his neck towards his trainer. Paul scrambled across to him, checked him for serious injuries, and found only a few surface wounds and burns, but enough to knock him out. He pulled out some hyper potion and fixed him up carefully, testing the slimy flesh gently to be sure his pokemon would recover well. Finally, he checked himself for injuries. A few new burns along his hands, but nothing that would bother him in the long run. He stood unsurely, recalling Gastrodon, and began to search the room.

Finally, he came across a couple of books. One was on the bookcase, but on the top, placed there carefully and recently. The second was on the floor, trapped under a pebble on a page that had some entry about a temple west of Cianwood. He took them both, called out his Honchkrow, and flew out of the missing roof of the ship, hopeful Mr Briney had a first aid kit.


	10. Beget: Flee

**Beget: Flee**

* * *

Mt Pyre

* * *

It was her first time in a helicopter. Peering out through the window, at the cove of ocean they were drawing closer to, Madison felt a hot tingle of breath on the back of her exposed shoulder. It was reassuring to know that Courtney was there with her, a weight of familiarity in a surge towards a place that had haunted her thoughts and loomed over her dreams for longer than she cared to admit. Courtney was a logical certainty, a consistent force of black and white, and the anchor that let her fly away.

"Admin Madison," Courtney's voice was dead of emotion, but her eyes said otherwise. It wasn't really the start of a sentence, or said to get her attention. It was a brisk reminder of her position, and her responsibility. Madison breathed out shortly, and turned to Courtney with a great, beaming smile.

"Right. Admin Courtney," she nodded briskly. "We've got this locked up."

"Hm," Courtney tsked under her breath, but gave a reluctant nod. "We'll be fine." Internally, she was running what little information she had through her mind, weighing up possibilities, measuring strategy, but more and more she was finding it wasn't her head that led the successes in Team Magma, but Madison's unfailing instinct, impulse and improvisation. It was throwing off her judgement, and she felt less sure.

Madison's fingers squeezed between Courtney's.

"I'm nervous." Madison admitted quietly, checking the other grunts couldn't hear. "If I can't… cope?"

"Then you retreat." Courtney didn't look at her. "I'll handle it. Just do what you can."

"Alright." She breathed out slowly, counting to five in whispers. "Alright."

The helicopter began to descend, and the shape of Mount Pyre grew large underneath them, until it became formidably so, and then solidified as land under their feet. As they landed, so did many other aircrafts, unloading innumerable grunts clad in red and black, charging forwards but falling into position, restless but well trained. They were a humming throb of anticipation, and already a small cluster of civilians in the distance began to form, and point, and scream.

Admins Courtney and Madison strode to the front line, smiles on their faces and hands on their hips. With a mirrored flick of their wrists, they pointed forwards.

"Go," was all that needed to be said.

The mass of red surged forwards, with a horde of Mightyena released to keep the trainers among the civilians at bay. A throb of excitement pulsed through the small army they'd amassed. It was easy, and they'd over prepared, really. It had been Courtney's doing; by making them insurmountable, they reduced the chances of anything happening outside of her meticulous plans. The admins kept close together, stood back to back, spiraling together as they observed the spoils of their work. They shared a taste for utter chaos, and that was what blossomed about them. As they circled, Courtney felt Madison's breath hitched, and she turned immediately on the spot, grabbing her wrist.

"Are you still with me?" She murmured, a dark grumble against the cries of battle.

"Yes," Madison replied unevenly, her eyes beginning to narrow. "And so are they."

Among the approaching crowd of cerulean blue suits, of the new bubbles of complications that was Team Aqua, stood the leading admin for their equivalent mission. A shocked, but quickly sobering man named Axel stood with his arms knitted into a firm fold, and Madison felt her lip curl upwards.

The fighting broke out immediately.

While Courtney spoke quietly to some of the higher ranking grunts, confirming their movements, Madison openly challenged the opposing admin, her flair making her appear a lot braver than she seemed. Her feet wobbled slightly as she strode forward, but she did not hesitate in enlarging a pokeball and smiling sweetly at Axel, teasingly.

"Why do I feel like you're not afraid of anything, after all?" Axel's teeth bared in a jaunty grin.

"Oh honey," Madison replied coyly, tossing her pokeball over in her hand. "How could you know anything when we've only just met? I'm not the kind of girl to give it all away on the first date."

"Some things, maybe," Axel's grin became suggestively wider. "But not all of them; _Evelyn_ ,"

"You might have guessed my name would be one of them." Madison laughed, despite herself. "Let's?" She spun the pokeball quickly on a pointed finger, coyly smiling.

"Let's." Axel beamed, before his face became transfigured with a smirk. "Gyarados!"

"Ninetales!"

" _GO!_ "

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

May was hardly surprised when her brother had told her that a phone call had come from her from La Rousse, and she was hardly surprised when those familiar green eyes bore into her from another side of a screen somewhere, concern barely masked in a facade of awkward pleasantries as Drew wove his way through their personal circumstances into the conversation he had really wanted to have. He had seen the news, or he'd watched one of the many, many replays of it on various blogs and websites, easily accessible. He'd seen the battle with Team Aqua. He wanted to see her.

May had been waiting by the front door when he'd arrived, sat patiently on the floor next to it. She'd been lost in thoughts, of memories she'd tried to string into theories and plans, when a confident knock woke her and pulled her to her feet. No matter how awkward their last encounter, there was nothing but familiarity and strength in the sight of Drew.

"June," his voice lilted teasingly. "I'm surprised you're still in one piece."

"It seems there's a stray at my door," she sung back, twinkling. "I should call the Pokemon Center and have him collected." Drew placed two hands over his chest, wincing.

"You wound me," he groaned, his eyes sparkling. "When I've come all this way."

"I suppose I could interpret it as kindness," May twisted on the spot, turning away and moving back, allowing him entrance to her home. He shut the door delicately behind them.

"It's good to see you." He told her earnestly, his voice low. Her smile faded from jovial to sincere, and she looked at him over her shoulder, meek.

"You, too." She murmured. Walking on, May knew he would follow as she pottered her way through her childhood home. He'd been here before, a few times, and was well acquainted enough with her family to know that the spare room would have already been made up for him.

"Where's Max, and your parents?" He asked politely.

"Max is in the greenhouse with Mom," May replied delicately. "Dad is in the gym, training. He's been training a lot these days."

"I would too, had my wife and daughter just been attacked on national television." Drew spoke carefully, choosing his words wisely.

"Your wife and daughter?" May laughed. "Keeping secrets?"

"As many as you are," Drew retorted quickly, and May's laugh fell. He followed her further as she fluttered into the kitchen, dropping into a stool at the wooden kitchen table as she moved around the room lazily, collecting mugs and tea leaves.

"I'm not keeping any secrets," she finally replied. "Not from anyone ever, not even you. Peppermint or green?"

"Green," Drew replied monotonously. "I mean, maybe not secrets. But you're keeping a lot quieter, these days. You've gotten much harder to read."

"I've a lot on my mind," she admitted softly, bringing a kettle to boil over the stove. Drew glanced at her, running his eyes along her turned back, and stifled a sigh.

"I suppose that's fair," he pressed his fingers into an arch in front of him, resting it against his nose as he leant upon the table. May dropped thick green cups to the table, and filled a pot with dried tea. "So how have you been?"

"Oh," May dithered. "Well enough. Yourself?"

"Strangled by formality, frankly." Drew closed his eyes for a moment, his voice pinched. "How have you been?"

"Can't I at least have tea ready before you interrogate my emotional state?" May snorted, lifting the squealing kettle and pouring into the teapot. "Or are my personal thoughts of this much interest to you?"

Drew smiled, despite himself. "Perhaps they are." May found herself unable to reply. She placed the teapot on the table between them, letting it steep in silence for a few minutes. Drew did not seem to regret his words, but May wished he would. He paused, watching steam rise from the spout of the pot, and waited for her to speak. She didn't. "Well then. How are you?"

"Apprehensive," May admitted quietly, lifting her hands to pour the tea. Drew stopped her by standing and reaching across to do it himself. He passed her a full cup, and she thanked him under her breath, taking a scalding sip.

"Anyone would be nervous after they were attacked in that way," Drew assured her gently. "I'm sure it's hard to think about the next contest season with all this going on."

"Ah… we haven't spoken." May's voice fell flat. "I'm taking some time off from coordinating."

"Yes." Drew didn't meet her eye. "I guessed."

"I'm not worried for myself," May suddenly blurted, desperate for at least someone to understand her concerns. "I'm worried for…"

"Manaphy." Drew rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I know. I've heard the story." May softened for a moment, as though waiting for him to continue. However, he said nothing, and she grew impatient. Drew took a sip of his tea, silent.

"Well?" May finally demanded, irritably fidgeting, pushing herself into place on her chair. He winced.

"I don't know what you expect me to say." He scowled. "Do you want me to tell you to run around the world to find him; should I encourage you to sail across the seas until you happen across a mythical pokemon?" May's face fell. "If Team Aqua gets hold of you you have no idea what might happen. It's dangerous for you. It's dangerous for anyone linked with anything they want. It's best you let mythical pokemon do what they do best; remain a myth."

"Manaphy is more than a myth," May stated fiercely, slamming her drink on the table as she spoke. "And I am capable enough to keep myself safe. I did it once."

"May, you're a powerful battler and an exceptionally quick thinker in these situations, which frankly baffles me every day." Drew sighed, tense. "You did a fantastic job against Team Aqua in Mauville."

"But?" May pushed, her nostrils flaring.

"But what?" Drew deflected, pushing back in his seat.

"But you still don't think I can do it," May asserted bitterly, and Drew stood up so that he could move around the room a little and expel some of his frustrated energy.

"No, you know what, I don't." He shrugged, like it wasn't all that surprising. "Pitting yourself one on one against an entire criminal organisation? I have a good reason to be concerned, May. You might not be the brightest person I know at the best of times, but this takes the prize for your dumbest idea."

"You don't get to talk to me like that!" May shot back, her eyes already flush with hot tears. "You don't! I know you're mad at me, I know you're disappointed in that kiss, I know you're hurt, but you don't get to talk down to me!"

"I'm not talking down!" Drew was exasperated, circling the table and shaking of a wave of disbelief. "I'm telling you this because surprisingly, I would rather not see you killed. Is that so wrong of me? I don't want to turn on the news one day and find out that May Maple has been murdered by Team Aqua for not complying and showing them the way to a mythical creature. It's not a reflection on you, it's a reflection on the situation."

"I don't have a choice in the situation, this is the one I've got." May stood up as well, and stopped him from moving about so he was forced to stare her in the eye.

"This isn't about the kiss," he told her firmly.

"What does it matter what it's about?" May asked hotly, her face stinging with fat, wet tears. She pressed her lips against his competitively, almost aggressively, and Drew went limp. Their arms did not move so that their hands might touch, there was no sweetness or affection to the move. May jerked back, deliberate and hurt. "See? I kissed you, and you still don't have any faith in me."

"May, that's not…" he tried to stop her, but she'd stormed past him, and flown out of the house before he could think to stop her.

* * *

Mt Pyre

* * *

Paul thought better than to bother Mr Briney to travel so far from his home, especially in his growing age. He'd been so kind as to wait so many hours outside of that old ship to bring him back to land and was sure Paul had received some medical attention before departing. Paul had gleaned from what little information he'd found in that library, from the books and the pieces of lore around the room, that Mount Pyre held some kind of significance, and that it was a place he might chance upon meeting that woman from Team Magma again. He was apparently right, because as he approached the coastline of the ocean cove that surrounded Mount Pyre, he could see helicopters landing atop the burial site, and he could hear the unmistakable shouts of battle. He didn't have time to waste.

He called on his Gastrodon and held onto the back of it's fleshy, slimy skin as best he could, cutting through the water without bothering to remove or change his clothes. While slow on land, Gastrodon was perfect for cutting across short waterlogged areas; it was like swimming but much faster with a competent water type to cling to. The water was cold and greying, like it had soaked in the morose atmosphere of the mountainous grave site, and it foamed around them as they cut through the choppy waves. A few times, Paul began to lose his grip, and Gastrodon slowed as she sensed her trainer falling back, letting him slip a little higher, finding a hold among the growths on her back. It would have been easier for him to just grip around her neck, but a little voice in his head reminded him that could have hurt her. He vowed to better ignore the little voice the next time it reared it's head.

They reached the shore, and Paul was dripping wet as he pulled himself onto the stone work entrance ahead of Mount Pyre. He recalled Gastrodon with a quiet word of thanks, and then he began to rearrange himself, making sure he was ready. His pokeballs were all neatly clipped onto his belt, although he was so waterlogged that it made his clothes heavy and restricted his movements a little too much. He glanced over his supposedly synthetic, waterproof jacket, saturated with salt water and foam. Reluctantly, he paused. Reaching some kind of conclusion that he apparently did not wish to reach, he peeled the jacket from his shoulders, revealing pale skin that hadn't seen the sun for a long time, with tan lines around his wrists and neck where the jacket met his collar. His faded dark vest underneath had once been black, but was stuck taught to his chest from the water. It didn't deny him mobility though, so he felt no need to remove it.

Paul studied his arms for a moment, quiet among the mass hysteria above him. Unnoticed yet, he rubbed his hand over the long, white scar lines that wove their way up and down his forearm and wrapped around his shoulder. They were only on his right arm, and were long past their painful state of years long gone by. But the skin was still shiny and too smooth, and underneath the white lines of his skin grafts, it was left completely devoid of any colour.

He ran his hands along his grey cargo pants, pushing as much of the water out to his feet as he possibly could. He stuffed his sodden jacket into his pack, threw it onto his back and made his way towards Mount Pyre's entrance. It was like a great hollow opening in the side of the formidable structure of the island graves, towering high, a natural structural kept true to it's rocky form.

There were some civilians and weaker trainers huddled near the entrance, hovering on the inside. Some were in tears, desperate to get back to the mainland but kept in place out of duty to the graves of pokemon they'd visited.

"We don't want to leave them unattended in these battles," one of them had said. "We owe them protection and safety."

Another burst into a fresh round of tears. "My Skitty is up there still; I can't lose her too!"

Paul ushered them out, quietly assuring them he'd do the best he could to take care of it, and hurried for the staircase that would lead him to the mountains atop the misty white chapels. They were vast, unending rooms with impossibly high ceilings, the walls once a pristine white, but wherever you looked it seemed to be peeling away, revealing stoney brickwork underneath. A tried to hear over the clamor of the noise up high, straining to hear faint cries of Skitty somewhere in the vast structure of Mount Pyre. There was a pulsating memory of words in his mind, mocking his actions mercilessly.

" _What's the point in being strong if you're not using it to protect people?"_

She would have loved this. The thought made him feel deeply sick.

He leapt up the nearest stairwell, wondering if the Skitty was trapped on a higher floor. Paul checked behind every gravestone he passed, a bubble of morbid overstimulation beginning to swell in his chest. Quietly, he begun to realise there was nowhere in Hoenn he'd less like to be than here.

A quiet mewl came from across the hall of the second highest chapel, and he sprinted towards it, scanning the room frantically. Just as he spotted a ball of pink fur, cowering in the back corner of the room, with her face obscured by her shaking tail, a loud crash could be heard from the chapel above them, and a few strangled screams. Swearing under his breath, Paul scooped Skitty into his arms without thinking about whether or not he should approach the terrified Pokemon with a gentler, more soothing touch. Skitty, however, was so petrified, she did not shift or complain, but buried her face into his scarred shoulder. With no time to hesitate, he went on, sprinting for the next stairwell up.

He came across a small group of people huddled near the exit back out onto the mountain tops, in the highest chapel. They peered out sometimes, but mostly shook, and some sobbed, deeply fearful for the graves above, hoping they might be preserved. Paul grabbed one of them by the shoulders and pushed him aside gruffly, shoving Skitty into his arms.

"Get downstairs," he ordered. "Call the police, or the closest gym. Try and get some kind of authority to appear and that'll scare them off faster than anything. One of the trainers downstairs, she lost this Skitty. Take it to her." A couple of the trainers nodded, and they grabbed at the reluctant ones, shifting the lot of them down to where the other trainers waited. Paul grabbed at a pokeball. "Electivire, stand by."

With his long time battle partner by his side, Paul sprinted up the final indoor stairwell out onto the mountainside. Wild pokemon concealed themselves in the greenery, using the mist and foliage to keep themselves undetected. The cliff faces were crumbly and dangerous, like if anyone got too close to them they'd give out underneath you and leave you to plummet to a watery grave. Paul tucked in a little closer to the inside of the path and pressed onwards, pushing up towards the next set of stairs and the main site of action.

There were red and blue figures screaming commands to pokemon everywhere he looked. Mightyena, and Golbat, and Numel and Carvana flew at each other, screeching and biting and battering each other as best they could. In amongst the disarray, Paul spotted two women dressed in slightly different shapes of red than the other forms, together battling a single man in blue commanding a Gyarados, using their own Ninetales and Camerupt. His fist forming next to him, he sprinted forwards.

Courtney saw him coming before he arrived, and she tapped out of the unbalanced battle she and Madison were engaged in with Axel.

"Camerupt," she called, "earthquake - hit that Electivire!" It caught him off guard, before he'd had chance to formulate what was happening in front of him, and the attack hit it's mark. Electivire trembled, and fell down for a moment, heavily injured by the super effective hit. However, it would take more than that to knock him out, and it wasn't long until he was steady on his feet again, slapping his wires together impatiently, static crackling.

"Brick break," Paul moved swiftly, coming to stand still beside his pokemon before he lurched forward. Calmly, Paul placed one hand in his pocket.

"Camerupt, brace yourself." Courtney was analytically quick enough to recognise that Camerupt was far too slow to waste time attempting to evade, and opening herself up to a critical hit in the process. "Stay steady." The great volcanic pokemon dug its feet into the ground, and as Electivire hit, it did a good deal of damage but not as much as it might have done. Paul silently ground his teeth together. "Follow up with erupt!"

"Protect," Paul cut her off, and Electivire complied, coating himself in a blue orb just as a great surge of lava burst from the back of Camerupt, spitting embers and flickers of flames where the lava incinerated the grass they stood on. Paul didn't flinch.

"Brick break, reversed." Paul smiled, almost serenely. Courtney faltered.

"Dig your feet in, again." She wasn't sure what he meant by reversed, or why he was smiling in a way that made her so uncomfortable. As Electivire approached, Camerupt prepared for a blow from in front, but was shocked when Electivire flipped over and behind him, and struck him on the other side with a powerful blow with the electric wires. While the electricity had little to no effect on Camerupt, the force of the impact left him wincing and unable to walk about.

"Rock tomb," Courtney responded in a clipped, clinical manner, ready to regain ground. Rocks surged up from the ground around them and collided in the air around Electivire, sealing him before Paul had the opportunity to respond. The rocks dropped heavily around him, ensnaring him in place and wounding him significantly. The Camerupt was stronger than it looked.

"My fight isn't with you," Paul snarled, recalling Electivire. "I'm here for your partner." He pulled out a second pokeball, tossing it up, and releasing his Hariyama.

"She's otherwise engaged," Courtney told him coolly. The two Magma Admins stood back to back once more, their hands linked tightly between them. Madison glanced over her shoulders, and Paul noted quickly she seemed pale and withdrawn. "You get to battle me instead. Let's go."

"Ninetales," Madison ordered swiftly, her hand clenching around Courtney's weakly. "Extrasensory!" She'd already pulled out a confuse ray on the Gyarados minutes before, and the psychic attack hit it's mark, knocking the great sea serpent back on it's tail. Axel let out a long, low whistle of appreciation.

"Making the most of the confusion to baffle us a little more ey?" Axel grinned wickedly. "Where have I heard that tactic before?"

"Hit him again!" Madison roared, her voice hoarse. "Extrasensory!" Ninetales' eyes burned blue, and her tail swished. Gyarados roared in pain as the psychic wave raked through him, and his wild, confused eyes darted around the mountain top wildly. They were in the middle of the peak, far from the edge. Axel considered this, thinking quietly.

"Aqua tail," he spoke calmly. Gyarados thankfully seemed to hear. He pulled his tail forward, imbued with water sucked from the air around them, and swung it towards Ninetales with the an unexpected burst of strength and power. Ninetales was knocked sideways, and skidded near to the edge of the cliff. She was fine, but just a heartbeat too close to the cliff edge for Madison to cope.

She paled.

"Courtney," Madison panted, crumbling to her knees. "Courtney."

"Crobat!" Courtney intervened, sending out a second pokemon. "Use air cutter on that Gyarados. Camerupt, whatever you do, keep that Electivire at bay and do not use earthquake." Paul paused, idly insulted that he had been left to be dealt with with minimal effort. He looked around quickly, looking for some cause in the change of battle structure, as to why that admin he'd met on the abandoned ship seemed to collapse under the weight of her own body. His eyes landed on Ninetales.

"Electivire," he ordered, quietly. "Use thunder on Ninetales."

"You brat," Madison turned to him with a sudden, hysterical screech. "You don't know what you're playing with here you obscene little brat!" Electivire shot down a powerful bolt of lightening that struck Ninetales directly. She howled in pain, and the ground underneath her weakened. Madison roared. " _Va te faire enculer,_ " she hissed. "Ninetales, please return!"

"I guess I got your attention," Paul smirked, pleased. Madison was on her knees, sweating and weeping, cradling her pokeball to her chest, whispering some desperate plea in fluent Kalosian over, and over, and over. "Fight me. With none of those filthy tricks, this time."

"Filthy tricks," her head lolled back in laughter, that mingled with panicked sobs. "Oh, you flimsy boy. If you think my trump card is a filthy trick, you're obviously not a very flexible battler, now are you? And you think you can avenge Brandon, that you can win what he lost? How pathetic."

Paul's whole body constricted into himself.

"You can't handle a little smoke," she shrugged, still lost to her blind panic of tears. "Why on earth would you douse yourself in fire?" Wide blank eyes fell upon the bareness of his arm, and she trilled out another maddening laugh.

"Madison," Courtney lost her breath for a moment. "Madison, you should return to the helicopter. You should retreat."

There was a moment of stillness as the four stood, separate entities, separate thoughts running through separate minds. The havoc around them continued, grunts flying at each other and pokemon wrestling in ill trained contempt. Madison remained crumpled on the floor, her laughs and sobs erratically twisting together, apparently not hearing what Courtney had said. Axel held a hand up towards an impatient, furious Gyarados, and approached her boldly, standing over her shaking form. She didn't look at him. Courtney began to fly forwards, her Magma cape fluttering behind her as she strode on towards him, stood the other side of her and holding his eye contact cooly. Despite her short stature, Axel felt a tremor of intimidation run through him.

"What a classic Aqua trait," she taunted in a low, clipped voice. "You would take advantage of someone's personal weaknesses to better your own situation. Her anguish here is none of your concern."

"Poor girl," Axel tilted an eyebrow, smiling. "So I suppose heights is another fear of hers, alongside open water."

Courtney's eyes narrowed.

"What do you suppose you know about her anyhow?"

Paul felt it was time that his presence was once again heard. There was something here, something on this mountain that these two organisations were after. Just as Aqua had tried to encapture May, they hunted for something here, and Magma did much of the same. All of this triviality, all of these battles, all of this madness, it was a misdirection from something else. This was more than a battle ground. Perhaps, he could find it first.

As though Courtney could sense his thoughts, she spun on her heel, a hand outstretched. "Crobat, toxic that Electivire and keep that boy busy." Now, he had two pokemon to deal with. Camerupt and Crobat. But her instructions prevented Camerupt from utilising it's ground type advantage, and Crobat could easily be set back by a well timed thunder. He could manage it easily, though it might take precious time he could have spent searching.

The sky was beginning to darken, but it was a day long from over. Paul battled as best he could, combining break break attacks on Camerupt with short range fire thunder attacks at Crobat. He utilised his thunder counter shield to keep Crobat from landing physical ranged attacks, and doubled it with protect when Camerupt tried to combat him with a burst of lava. Courtney was turned away from them, trusting in the autonomy of her team, stood nose to nose with Axel in a display of territorial back and forth that he found inappropriate for the setting.

Eventually, Electivire knocked back her team, her lack of leadership and underestimating him leaving her pokemon defenseless. Paul recalled him, watching carefully as Courtney realised her fault and recalled her defeated pokemon, duly distracted. Paul took his moment and broke away, not sure what to search for, but knowing he must search for something. However, the timing found him too late, and before he was five minutes into his hunt, a small crowd of Aqua grunts found Axel, informed him of something in whispers, and left him to curse loud enough to be heard across the peak. In moments, the blue began to disperse, disappearing in patches and retreating into black helicopters with emblazoned 'A's. As they scurried on, Paul overheard some passing conversation.

"This would never have happened if Archie could have just held onto that May girl," a disgruntled man grumbled, recalling a Mightyena from close by. The woman next to him sighed. "I mean, it's not too late, you know. We can still track her down." Paul's ears pricked uncomfortably.

"I heard," the woman preened, "now, you didn't hear this from me; I overheard some of the chatter after the admins left the meeting before this job, and apparently this is the next top priority. Anything to track down that girl - anything to track down Manaphy." Paul felt his blood solidify to ice, stood as a seemingly invisible observer as the blue fled from the field around him, leaving him with few targets for his new, bubbling, unprecedented rage. The whole day - this whole idea of coming here - everything seemed to unfold in exactly the way it shouldn't, for every party involved. Whatever it was that Aqua had been searching for, it wasn't to be found here, and now they were on the trail of May. He felt assured that she could handle herself enough to keep safe for now, though. Magma were still here, though. Maybe Madison's, if that was her name, complete shutdown in motor functions held them here a little longer, or perhaps they thought there was something more to search for.

Aqua's absence gave them the perfect opportunity.

Paul renewed his search. He climbed the peak upwards. Mist from the chapel seemed to follow him upwards, snaking around the upmost part of the mountain. There were some steps here and there, must mostly uneven and dangerous footfall. The darkening sky was ominously difficult for visuals, so he kept low to the ground so to reach forward and lean on his hand if he needed to distribute his weight cautiously. His damp clothes were kept cool by the wind, and he felt an uncharacteristic chill in the tropical evening breeze of Hoenn. By the time he reached the very top, Magma weren't to be seen at the very height of the peak.

Instead there was a silvery alter which lay bare and stripped, and an elderly man and woman sat defeated and tired at it's feet. Paul hesitated, unsure if they were injured, but they smiled weakly at him as he approached, and he wasn't sure what to ask first.

"What happened?" He decided upon, quietly.

"Well," the elderly woman dusted off her long grey skirt carefully. "This all must seem very odd to a passerby."

"Quite strange," the elderly man agreed. Paul frowned. "It's been quite the occasion."

"A great deal of conflict," she mused lightly, "for very minimal result."

"They were protected, see," the man grimaced. "We were proven wrong, and we're glad to have had been fought hard on."

"Not by these costumed criminals," the woman corrected lightly. Paul felt a headache growing. "No, by the other ones."

"The ones who want to defeat them." The man paused, looking up. His silvery beard was lost in the red glow of the evening. "The ones who call themselves heroes."

"Hard to define oneself as a hero," the woman sighed whimsically. "Surely it must be done by the witnesses of heroic behaviour."

"Quite." The man agreed.

"Quite." The woman was pleased.

"But… what did they want? What was protected?" Paul squinted his eyes, trying to remain patient.

"They didn't get what they wanted, but they got what they needed, each of them." The woman knitted her hands together in her lap.

"They don't have what they need alone, they need to add what they need to what else that they need to ensure their next steps work along." The man smiled. "And what else they need is to work hard. The path of extortion and villainy is a complex one fueled by delays."

"Delays, and deception." The woman gave another long, weary sigh. "The answers are all there for them now, though. The relocation of their goal has simply put new locations into trial."

"Where might they go next?" The man queried. "What might their next steps be?"

Paul knew the answer to one of them, but not to the other. "Thank you." The sun finally sunk beneath the horizon, and blackness plunged through the night. It was too dark to scale Mount Pyre again, but he could see the departing Magma helicopters soar through the inky night, and the sudden tightness in his chest became much, much tighter. That little voice popped back into his head, and he desperately tried to silence it.

" _And you're gonna hear about me one day, and you're gonna stop and realise I'm not so clueless after all!_ "

Perhaps, she was right.

But for all of the wrong reasons.

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

There was a shuffling about in the darkness that woke him. Drew knew, from numerous other occasions of staying in Petalburg, that May's family tended to all sleep very deeply, and it took a lot more than a slight murmuring of someone around the house to wake them. If he were to need to get water during the night, or use the bathroom, he did it comfortably and without fear for a loud floorboard or running tap, knowing they'd all comfortably sleep through it. So, he knew that he would be the only one woken by the scuffling of feet and the clicking of doors.

Automatically, he reached across to the nightstand and clicked on the yellowy light of the lamp that sat upon it. He sat upright, shifting pink comforters away from him and slipping his bare feet onto the dark wooden floor boards of the Maple's spare bedroom. It was small, but comfortable, with innumerable throws and pillows across the bed that he'd neatly piled on the floor, finding them a little too plush. The furniture was warm and inviting, with mahogany wood and smooth finishes, and across the floorboards lay a slightly ragged red rug, a little patchy here and there but in rather a homely manner. He pulled his socks back onto his feet to keep them warm, and then padded along out down the corridor and down the stairs, where a low light was glowing. Quietly, Drew wondered if Norman had woken up to get some water, or if Caroline was as flighty at night as Max said she had been since the incident in Mauville.

Instead, he found May, going through her bag one last time to ensure she had everything she needed for the road. Grimacing, he had hoped his presumption had been wrong, but was disappointed and not at all surprised to find it wasn't.

"Good evening," May greeted lightly. She was as equally not surprised at his presence.

"You're leaving." It was a statement, not a question. She spared Drew a smile.

"I'm sorry for earlier," she offered lightly, and he shook his head, dismissing it. May sighed. "I can't seem to get this right. I can't seem to… understand what you want from me anymore."

"I don't want anything," Drew told her softly. It was a lie, and they both knew it was. "You don't have to go."

"I do," May stated defensively. "I have someone to protect, and no one can tell me that that's wrong." Her eyes began to burn, to flame, in a way that Drew recognised when something ignited something greater in her. "I have to make sure that he's okay. I have to know at least if there is any way I can find him, and be with him to protect him as best I can. Right now, I don't know where he is. But I can do my best to find out, don't you think?" She stared at him, wide eyed and desperately lost. "I should do something, shouldn't I? What kind of mother would I be if I didn't?"

"You aren't his mother," Drew reminded her gently.

"I might as well be," May retorted crossly. "Don't you agree at all?"

"I don't." He let out a long, low sigh, and May turned away from him, petulant and upset. "But it doesn't matter whether I agree. You've never sought out my permission before doing dangerous things before."

"That's true," May softened, and laughed weakly. Drew smiled despite himself. She was unstoppable, sometimes.

"Let me get my things," Drew told her dismissively, turning back to the stairwell.

"And why should I do that?" May questioned, a smile beginning to spread and crease along her face.

"Well, here we go. At least wait five minutes so I can get ready, because I'm not about to let you go wander into death alone. I at least should get to come bring popcorn." He didn't look at her as he headed back up the stairs, but he could feel her gratitude swell and rush over him in a long, exhaled huff of breath behind him.

* * *

Lilycove City

* * *

It was late, very late, but Madison and Courtney sat together cross legged on the floor of Madison's office. It was situated right next to Courtney's, and had a twin warp panel as well as a new one that linked the two rooms. Her office was slightly different, and less clinical than her partners. The walls were red, but not a singular red, but a collection of reds, of crimsons and pinks, of roses and ambers, of bloods and of fires. They striped and swirled about the room in furnishings and wall coatings, with black marble tables and her desk to cut through the colour. There were flowers, white lilies, in a clear vase at the corner of the desk. They seemed drastically out of place among everything harsh and bright and bold about the rest of the room, but it was accepted unquestioningly by all who passed by her office.

"What a mess," Madison moaned, leaning back against the wall behind her. "I'll be had for this. A simple lifting op turned into a mass Aqua conflict. We didn't even achieve our goal. We didn't really achieve anything."

"I find some inaccuracies in what you say," Courtney hummed lowly. "But yes, we can hardly think that this day went as it had been intended to go. This is what happens when there are too many variables, you know."

"Well what were the variables?" Madison slumped, ready for her imminent scolding.

"I could tell you, as you expect me to, that it was you," Courtney trilled stretching out her back. "I could say that your apparent acquaintanceship with a member of Team Aqua, that your exposure to such an environment, that your lack of admin experience and your prior action without adherence to proper procedure…" she trailed off, and Madison winced, slipping her head into her hands. "However, I won't. I find it unsuited to this particular context."

"Oh?" Madison glanced upwards, curious, though still feeling thoroughly scolded.

"No. Instead, I think perhaps the true variable was on the allowance of you to follow through to Mt Pyre in the first place." Courtney paused, thinking through her words carefully. "Not because you are weak, because you are not. But instead perhaps, from exposing someone to their greatest weakness we should have deduced that it would end with a negative outcome. You do not send out a grass type to battle a fire type." Somehow, her words wounded Madison more than they would have if Courtney had found her individual actions were to blame.

"I suppose you're pleased to have been proven right," Madison sighed. Courtney shook her head, a small curl to her lip.

"You must think little of me," she murmured, coldly, "if you believe I found any moment of joy in your suffering."

"I'm sorry." Madison looked down. "For being weak."

"You are ill," Courtney corrected. "There is a chemical imbalance at play. That does not make you weak."

"I feel weak," Madison sighed, her words falling into her breath. "But there's little that can be done now. The orb was nowhere to be found, we did not defeat Aqua, and we have found ourselves at a categorical dead end."

"Perhaps not," Courtney tested, her lips curling more. They twisted into a sort of smile. "We now have means to find the orb, Aqua did not defeat us, and I can think of a place we can aim at to begin to plot our next step."

"You've lost me." Madison sat upright and straight, watching Courtney carefully. An uncharacteristic giggle escaped her smiling lips.

"I found something," she whispered conspiratorially. "It was like I was drawn to it. It's just a little, tiny device." Courtney slipped a small black box out of her pocket, with a blank black screen. "Nothing special, hm? But when I press…" Courtney tapped a button on the side. "...This! Button." A blue light and a red light began to glow, on the outline of a map of the Hoenn region. It seemed to fall in around Petalburg City. "I think we know where we head to next."

"Petalburg," Madison whispered. "They're hiding the orbs in Petalburg."

"Hardly surprising," Courtney snorted. "Why, they've chosen the gym leader closest to the three champions. Where else would be inconspicuous enough yet well protected enough?"

"Well protected," Madison pointed out briskly. "Which means retrieval will be utterly impossible."

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Courtney reached up and tucked a stray strand of ash blonde hair from Madison's face in a rare moment of compassion. "While there are many abnormalities and variables, if there's one thing I can believe in without any evidence to support it, it would be your abilities." Madison looked at her strangely, and Courtney seemed for a fraction of a second to regret her words. "We should go to our homes, and rest. We'll have to report to Maxie in the morning."

"I may just sleep here tonight," Madison murmured. "Crash on the sofa."

"I understand." Courtney stood, clicking the bones of her back into place and stretching out her legs. "I'll speak to you in the morning."

"Wake me," Madison asked quietly.

"With coffee." Courtney assured her.

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

Carefully, May guided the bike along, using the handle to steer it carefully as she walked alongside it. There had always been a certain longing and worship in her heart for her father's bike. It was a long, continuous bodied bike, with supple seating and great, powerful wheels. In it's long, low form, you could really lean into it and speed along pathways like a bullet, pushing past whatever surrounded her that she wished to be free from. Learning to ride the bike alongside her father was now one of her most treasured, honoured memories, and she hoped that perhaps, alongside his imminent fury at her taking it, perhaps he might understand a little, and he might be a little proud.

When Drew turned to see what she was pulling along, he let out a low chuckle.

"The question is whether I trust you to drive it?" Drew pushed a hand deeply into his pocket, and May shrugged, giving him a weak smile.

"I didn't think you were coming because you trusted my abilities," she quipped sadly. "I thought it was to make sure I wasn't too badly beaten up." Drew's face fell a little, and she looked down so to hide her face behind her hair, pulling the bike up beside them. Balanced on the seat lay two sturdy helmets, and she passed one to him.

"Hey," he grabbed her wrist. "Hey." She met his eyes, and gave a fake, yet fond, smile. "Where's that come from?"

"You've made your position very clear." May told him, a little sternly. "Now come on. The longer we stand out here…"

"The harder it is to leave?" Drew queried lightly. "Maybe that means you shouldn't go."

"Stop," May demanded, pulling her arm free, preparing to snap her helmet into place. "We leave now."

"I trust your ability," Drew assured her stiffly, taking a moment to lower her helmet away from her head, just for a second. "I just… wish you could see the bigger picture."

"I wish you could," May returned quickly. It became awkward, and heavy again. His hands were on her forearms. Before she could place her helmet on her head, he gave her that silent, imploring half smile that she knew meant he wished she might wait a moment longer before they set off, to give him a chance to end this tense back and forth and resolve it properly, to perhaps return the kiss she had abruptly stolen from him in a cruel, twisted way to make her point clear.

She pulled her arms away, and placed her helmet on her head.

"Sorry," she mumbled, swinging her leg over the bike. Drew said nothing, placed his own helmet on, and placed himself behind her on the bike. "Hold on." Somehow, the awkwardness of merely existing near one another did not translate to any discomfort in him gripping her waist for security.

They sped into the night, the roar of the motorbike finally waking Norman. However, he rolled over, accepted his daughter's fate, and went back to sleep.


	11. Scarred Flesh: Biker Shorts

**Scarred Flesh: Biker Shorts**

* * *

North of Oldale Town

* * *

The sun was high overhead when they pulled over for a rest. It was late morning, and they'd ridden as far as May could manage without needing to take a break. They were running on precious little sleep, and May had felt her muscles growing worn and tired by the time they'd hit Oldale Town, but she'd wanted to power through a little further before they took a break. There was still a way to go, but it was worth getting a few hours sleep in before driving any further. It was a warm, breezy day, so Drew decided for both of them that it wasn't worth building a fire unless they were going to eat something, and if they were, it was something that could wait until they'd slept. He, apparently, was quite tired as well, though he'd clearly thought better than to have complained while she was driving.

He was quite impressed with her skill on the bike, she was speedy and yet well balanced. There was some hesitance in her first few turns and revs of the engine, but soon she adjusted to driving at night, and Drew found himself trusting her, quite relaxed as he watched the sun come up over her shoulder, the sky turning from black, to pink, to blue. Eventually, they pulled over, and May dropped forward for a second. Seeing how tired she was, slumped against the bike with her head in her hands, Drew set up a makeshift camp, rolling out sleeping bags on the ground and putting some tarp over head to block out the bright late morning sun. They'd be sleeping through the hottest part of the day, which seemed wise in some ways, but he wasn't about to risk sunburn by trusting the shade of a tree. Glancing at May's lightly tanned skin, he smiled, thinking she'd probably never had burnt skin a day in her life. A true Hoenn girl, born for exploring the outdoors.

May looked up a moment later, realising he'd made a small sleep space. Smiling gratefully, she shoved a hand into her pack, pulled out a water bottle to take a swig from, and passed it to him before laying back on her sleeping bag, leaving it open but slightly over her. It felt comforting to have something slightly covering her. Drew simply lay on top of his own sleep bag, not wanting to overheat. It was silent for a while, and Drew figured she'd already fallen asleep by the time she spoke.

"Thanks," she murmured, her voice almost swallowed by the breeze running through the trees. "It means a lot that you came with me."

"It's alright," Drew replied, honestly. "I'm sorry it's not for the reasons you want me to be here."

"It's alright," May returned, equally as honest. "I don't need to prove myself to you, I know I can do this."

"You don't need to prove yourself to anyone," Drew reminded her, a little tense. May turned away into her sleeping bag, sighing deeply. "May?"

"Sleeping," she mumbled, disengaged. Shaking his head a little to himself, he let his eyes close too, and the two fell into a deep, deep sleep.

* * *

Battle Pyramid

* * *

Gary had been looking through Brandon's research quietly. They were running out of things to help Brandon with, and little reason to stick around other than to be there to aid if Team Magma came back, but Brandon would not accept their staying there without other due cause. He stubbornly denied needing any assistance, regardless of whether or not Magma reared their heads again. Ash and Gary had been busy finding things to do, reasons to stay, questions for Brandon. While Ash had taken the opportunity to ask Brandon to help him with some more special training, Gary had absorbed himself in Brandon's study, looking at the archeological digs he'd attended and recorded over the years, and the findings of his research. A great deal of them concerned themselves with shines hidden around Hoenn, all in name of the Terrian Tribe, and he was beginning to grow frustrated with how many of his findings were lore based as opposed to historical fact based. It was hard to learn about the Pokemon of the time if all of these findings focused on proving or disproving old myths and stories.

He was in the middle of a particularly frustrating paper when Ash tapped on the door of the study he was in, pulling him out of his mind. Pikachu greeted him noisily from atop Ash's head.

"Hey, how's it going?" Ash grinned sheepishly. "Brandon's out today, so I figured if you weren't busy maybe we could have a practice match."

"Aw, Ashy boy," Gary mockingly pulled a concerned face. "I don't want to make you cry, though." Pikachu seemed irritated and exhausted from the moment 'Ashy boy' had left his lips, lazing over his trainer's cap.

"Gary…" Ash fumed, his cheeks puffing up. "Come on, we've grown past this."

"What's the matter?" Gary chortled, pushing the back of his chair as he stood, removing his reading glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Can't handle the truth?"

Ash was about to make some smart remark, a comeback that he would claim for years to come was brighter and wittier than anything Gary could ever say, when instead, he was saved by the sound of the Battle Pyramid phone buzzing out in the hall. Gary frowned; Brandon didn't often get calls. They made for the phone together, figuring if it was anything really important they could at least take a message and relay it back to him later.

When Gary picked up the green receiver, and Paul's face came to life in front of them, Ash nearly fell over; Pikachu jumped from Ash's head to Gary's so to keep an ear near the receiver and to stop from falling down.

"Good morning," Gary greeted politely, while Ash picked himself up and beamed into the screen. "It's good to hear from you, Paul."

"Hello." Paul nodded stiffly. "Where's Brandon?"

"He's not here today," Ash told him lightly, "but we're holding down the fort!"

"Hm," Paul frowned. He leant back, looking for something behind him. "Tell him to call me."

"Are you alright?" Ash craned his neck to try and see anything new on the screen, but nothing was visible in the camera view. Behind Paul seemed to be a bustling, lively crowd, and occasional muffled tannoy announcements that couldn't be made out over the phone. "Where are you?"

"Lilycove Harbour," he explained gruffly. "I'm about to get a hi-speed boat to Slateport. Something's happened."

"What?" Ash's eyes grew narrow and focused. "What do you mean?"

"I can handle it," Paul's eyes darted away, like he was trying not to think about something. Gary was still holding the receiver between he and Ash's heads, so Ash snatched it from him, determined. Pikachu gave an enraged yelp.

"You don't have to," Ash told him fiercely. "Where do you need me to be? Slateport?"

"I don't need your help with what I'm doing, but…" Paul paused, contemplating. "You should find May."

"May?" Ash's face relaxed into confusion, and he sat back, puzzled. "What's May got to do with this?"

"You saw the interview, I presume?" Paul asked. Gary nodded for them.

"We saw a repeat," Gary explained. "Signal went down over here when it was live. She handled herself very well, we thought." Rigidly, Paul frowned.

"Aqua isn't finished with her," Paul grunted. "She might need help. I traced Team Magma to Mt Pyre. and got they fought with Aqua there. I overheard some stuff."

"I'm on my way," Ash replied instantly, without a moment of thought. "I'm guessing you're headed for Petalburg?" Paul scowled. "That's a yes. Right. I'll see you there." Paul didn't bother to say goodbye, merely hanging up as quickly as possible. The screen cut to black, and Gary took the receiver back from Ash, placing it neatly back on the wall. There was a moment's quiet.

"I'm staying here," Gary told him firmly. "I can still get a lot from this research, and we don't know if Magma are still going to prowl around. It makes more sense for me to stay and study here, than for you to stay and train, anyhow."

"I agree," Ash said, with a touch of sadness. "Too bad, huh? Guess I won't get to cream ya in that battle."

"Oh Ashy boy," Gary patted his shoulder, almost pityingly. Pikachu giggled from atop his head. "Keep dreaming. It's cute." Ash rolled his eyes, groaning, before picking up the receiver again and calling a familiar number. "Who now?"

"I'm gonna see if May is even in Petalburg before I head that way," Ash replied nervously, jamming the phone between his head and his shoulder as he began to check his trouser pockets. He wanted to leave as soon as the phone call was over; he checked for his wallet and Pokedex, and then ran his fingers around his belt to be sure his pokeballs were all present and accounted for.

"That's an uncharacteristically good idea," Gary paused, pulling a face and nodding. "She might have left Hoenn to lie low after the interview. What will you do if she's not there?"

"Go to Petalburg," Ash replied tensely, waiting for someone to answer. No one did, so he dialed again. "If Paul was calling Brandon, there's a chance there's something big going on. He's not exactly the kind to call in backup."

"Makes sense," Gary was pleasantly surprised, smiling at him proudly for a moment. "Aw, kid. You're all grown up."

"Yeah, yeah," Ash stuck his tongue out childishly, pushing Gary away. Pikachu jumped up on top of the screen, dangling his face down to see. When the screen clicked to life, Ash picked Pikachu up, scooping him up in one arm, smiling apprehensively of the picture of Max in front of them. "Max! How's it going?"

"Oh. Ash." Max was frowning. "Sorry, I just thought you might be May."

"May's not there?" Ash breathed out, relieved. "Where is she?"

"We don't know," Max adjusted his glasses, but it was clear to see that behind them, his eyes were puffy and red. "She just… took off, last night. She stole Dad's motorbike, and took Drew with her. Dunno where to. All we know is that she's probably looking for Manaphy." Ash paused, closing his eyes for a moment to think. There was no doubt in his mind that if May wanted to find Manaphy, it would be hard to convince her otherwise. Some bonds were more powerful and magnetic than any kind of reason. Pikachu's ears dropped from his spot on Ash's arm, sad.

"Okay." Ash breathed out. "Drew's with her, so she's not alone at least. She'll be okay." Max didn't reply, looking down. "I'm on my way over." His ears pricked up, and Max gave something close to a genuine smile.

"You are?" He looked like he was relaxing. "Okay. That's good. Hopefully, she'll come back soon and you can shake some sense into her." In the background, Gary snorted.

"That rather implies he has sense in the first place," he teased, and Ash scowled over his shoulder.

"Max I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" Ash pumped his fist up. "Get in touch if May comes back. We'll fix this."

"Sure," Max nodded. "I gotta go. I told Dad I'd help him with some gym stuff."

"Go," Ash smiled. "Tell your Dad hey for me, and tell him I'm gonna be expecting a battle!" The prospect of watching Ash and his father slug it out again brought Max's mood right back up again, and he nodded, grinning.

"Will do," Max cheered. "See you really soon, Ash!"

"Soon, Max!" Ash assured him, brightly and boldly. As soon as the screen went black, he slumped, leaning his head against the screen. This was becoming too complicated, too odd, too many tangents for him to keep his head around. He took a long breath, before pushing back and giving Gary a fake, but confident grin.

"Best get to work," Gary nodded. "They need you."

"Yep!" Ash pressed a fist into his hand, making a satisfying slap noise. "Time to go help out my friends!"

* * *

North of Oldale Town

* * *

May woke first. Drew was still out when she came to, so she let him sleep a little longer. It would only take a few hours to reach Slateport. The road bridge they'd built over the river a little further north made an excellent shortcut, and allowed them to get round to Slateport without having to divert round through Rustboro, and then Verdanturf and Mauville. This route they were on - she thought it might be Route 103 - was peaceful and calm, and slightly removed from the well-trodden path of trainers, most of whom preferred the longer trip to hit the gyms as they went around.

She had already rolled up her sleeping back and reorganised her pack by the time that Drew began to stir. By that point, she had been rearranging her hair, tucking the big tufts at the sides back in her bandana-headband, twisting it into a bow atop her head.

"Good morning," she greeted cheerily, sending him a blustery smile. For a moment, he watched her peacefully, yawning.

"Good morning," he replied in good humour. "What time is it, in reality?" May hummed as she checked her Pokedex.

"Around half five." She huffed out, a little disappointed. The sun was still bright, but much lower. "We've lost a bit of time, but we can still get to Slateport before it gets too dark. It should only take a couple of hours."

"Especially the way you drive," Drew agreed, sitting upright and cracking his back a little as he stood himself up. He could tell from May's anxious fidgeting she wanted to get going, but he knew the longer it took to get to Slateport, the more likely she'd wait until tomorrow to make a decision. Slowly, he packed up his sleeping bag. "So. How are you holding up?"

"Fine," May replied gently, shrugging a little. "It's sweet of you to ask."

"I just figure it must be hard," he continued, folding it into his pack. "You know, leaving home so abruptly. Not really… knowing where we need to go."

"I've got a plan," May lied, checking the bike's oil levels. "It'll work out."

"Alright." Drew paused, thinking. "Just… if you wanted to talk about it." He knew that May's greatest weakness was emotional availability. It was a dirty trick, but it worked. She turned to him with big, watery eyes, suddenly sniffing.

"You mean it?" She mumbled awkwardly. Perhaps they could wait a little longer. Drew nodded, gestured to the floor to sit, and they sat together, face to face. The evening breeze was nice, and it cooled them off after a warm sleep. "Well, I don't know. What am I supposed to say?" May blinked, pausing. "Is this how processing works?"

"I think it is." Drew laughed, despite himself. "Although, I'm not the guy to turn to for healthily processing emotions."

"Oh yeah," May snorted. "Remember the first Kanto Grand Festival, all those years back?"

"I do," Drew sobered. "Not my proudest moment."

"We were kids," May hushed him, smiling as she pressed a hand over his. "Both of us. I understand you better now, too."

"Time'll do that for you," he agreed quietly, feeling his cheeks warm as her hand stayed against his. A glimmer, a flutter of hope, pounded hard in his chest. Suddenly, he felt shy. "Still, we're top coordinators now. A lot has changed."

"Yeah…" her voice trailed off, uneven. "Did Wallace ever talk to you? After you won?"

"Hn?" Drew frowned. "A little. He just said well done. Why, what did he say to you?" May paused, pursing her lips. "Processing?"

"Processing," she agreed. "He just… knows my Dad - knew _me_ , when I was younger. Talked about some things I don't think can be true."

"Like what?" He pressed her gently, urging her to keep going. Anything that slowed her down this much from her goal must have been weighing on her mind. May frowned, pulling her hand back and drawing her knees up to her chest.

"In the grand scheme of things, it's really not that important," she told him, mumbling like she didn't quite agree with herself. "I just really hated Pokemon when I was a kid. Obviously, I don't anymore. But when I was a toddler I just despised them. Wallace was weird about it though, said he remembered how much I'd loved them as a kid. It just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe he confused you with Max?" Drew quipped, raising an eyebrow.

"Gee, I'm so flattered," May deadpanned. "Nah, it just… doesn't quite fit."

"Well, maybe he wanted you to think about it," Drew said lightly. "Although, I do remember Harley telling me a great story about some Tentacool…"

"Don't even go there," May sulked, pouting. Grinning, more to himself than her, he stayed quiet for a moment, letting her think. "I guess it's not worth spending too much time thinking about."

"Guess not," Drew hummed, watching her carefully. "You know, I can't believe there was a time you didn't love Pokemon. Seems… unnatural."

"Well… I just didn't." May screwed up her face a little. "How could I? I mean, try and see it from my point of view."

"What point of view is that?" Now feeling a little awkward, he sat forward, waiting.

"I… I hated them. What they were doing to my family." She shuddered, sinking within herself. "My Mom basically used her Furret as my nanny so she didn't need to watch me so much when Max was a toddler. Max adored them and didn't shut up about anything but them. Then Dad…" Her voice suddenly felt hoarse. "Pokemon took him from me."

"They… took him?" He winced. "That's a harsh description."

"No it's not," May shook her head, falling in on herself, wrapping up in a ball. "He… never talked to me. Never looked at me. Never… anything. Suddenly, Dad's obsession with training and battling took us away from our home, in Johto, where we were happy and I had friends and grandparents. Then we were in Hoenn and I didn't know anyone. Even then, I didn't have a relationship with him until the day I told Mom I didn't want to go on a journey with Pokemon, and then it was all about convincing me that I had to." Her eyes screwed shut. "Why would I want to befriend and travel with the things that stopped my dad loving me?" Drew's eyes widened, and he was about to give her a small speech on all the reasons that was wrong, but she shook her head, a few tears leaking and splashing away, smiling. "Sorry, that's not fair. He loves me. He does."

"He does," Drew agreed sternly.

"He does," May echoed, smiling sadly. "It's just a shame that… I didn't know that for so long. I honestly believed that… maybe he didn't. Maybe I was a pointless distraction that took him away from what he wanted to do."

"You weren't," he assured her, despite having no evidence to prove as such. May knew that, and shrugged him off, sighing.

"It is what it is." May stood shakily, rubbing her hands together. "We're much better now than we used to be. He taught me to ride this bike, you know. That's probably the nicest memory I've got of us, and it was only a little while ago."

"It doesn't need to be old to be a memory," Drew smiled, standing up alongside her. The sun was getting lower; it felt unfair to delay her any longer.

"You know," she turned to him, smiling, passing him a helmet. "I love them now. Pokemon, I mean. They're my world."

"You don't need to tell me that," Drew assured her, huffing a laugh.

"You know, contests, they reminded me how much fun Pokemon were and having companions like that was unlike anything else in the world." She looked up to the sky, pensive. "They aren't just creatures who take over your life and change who you are, they're… friends. They enhance you." Her hand found the handle of the bike, leaning on it for weight. "It was just hard, is all."

"I understand," Drew said quietly, but May was sure he didn't. From what she'd gathered over the years, he had a very different relationship with his family than she did hers. While not perfect, they were attentive and proud of his accomplishments, always, and provided him with whatever support he needed. She'd only met them by the time their third grand festival in Johto rolled around because he'd desperately wanted to hide his 'embarrassing Mom' and 'annoying Dad'.

"Let's go," she sniffed, smiling. Nodding, he was about to pull on his helmet, but she stopped him with a hesitant hand. "Thanks, for letting me talk."

"You looked like you needed it." A swell of guilt bubbled in his chest, hating the selfish reasons that had lead to her being free to open up like that. He wondered when the last time she'd been able to talk openly about her family was, but Drew decided it was better not thought about. May once again swung her leg over the bike, stretching her biker shorts as she did. Her helmet swung into place, and she clicked the strap firmly. Drew joined her, and they continued on their way, ready to watch the sunset as they had seen it rise.

As the wind whipped past them, Drew peered over May's shoulder and noticed that a light blue bracelet, with large, bulky stones, was shaking with the whipping air going by them. He'd seen it a few times, with her Grand Festival dress and when he watched her interview. Dismissively, he figured it must have been her favourite.

* * *

Open Water

* * *

The sea was jagged, and the sun was blisteringly hot. Each wave the boat ran into left the deck violently shaking, lifting his head and knocking it roughly back into the hard, white floor. Attempting to create a cushion of sorts, he reluctantly shrugged off his synthetic, fraying jacket and wrapped it into a small pile. It made the jolts a little more bearable, but after a while, he noticed the curious eyes of the other passengers scanning over his exposed arms, and he quickly wrapped himself back in the jacket, feeling his pores sweat in protest. The sun really was hot today.

Paul hasn't slept in a long time. Squinting, he tried to remember the last time he had. He'd slept a little on Mr Briney's boat - he drove much more smoothly than these commercial high-speed transports - but upon docking had headed straight for Mt Pyre, and hadn't really rested since. His body ached and his eyes were bleary and unfocused, and he knew if he kept this up he'd collapse somewhere unsafe. However, there was a small tremble in his chest whenever he thought about resting, a quiet paranoia that flooded through him. He decided perhaps, he could rest when he reached Petalburg.

Sitting upright against the side of the boat, leaning back on it with a grunt, he pulled his trusty, although slightly water damaged, notebook from his back pocket. His vision was blurry enough to make his own scrawl of a handwriting hard to read, so occasionally he'd give up and try to rest again. Every time he did, the sweltering heat made him feel feverish, and his head knocked against the wall of the boat hard enough to give him a blunt, throbbing headache.

So, he'd return to his notes.

Eventually, his eyes focused up enough to read, so he pulled out the second book from his bag. It was the one he'd lifted from the Abandoned Ship, and he'd not had time enough to properly look through it yet. The page had been folded over about halfway through, but the crease wasn't too defined considering it had been sat in a closed book since at least Paul had picked it up. Paul quietly skim read the page. It must have been the last person to read it, and the last person to read it must have been that Magma admin, or around at the same time as her. It was a description of another temple, but far from Hoenn. Somewhere west of Cianwood City, in Johto, there was supposedly a temple for the People of the Water. It was recorded as a diary entry though, one with vague outlines and limited academic input. There was a hasty sketch of cliff faces and waterfalls and rugged, difficult landscapes with wild Steelix and icy patches of water with arctic pokemon like Seel and Dewgong making homes near the shore.

It told him nothing about the Terrian Tribe though, nor the things Team Magma might be searching out, so he returned the book to his bag, bitter with exhaustion and frustrated with lack of information. He peered over the side of the boat and saw Slateport Harbour growing more prominent in the horizon. It wouldn't take long now.

He resigned himself to a few hours sleep in the Pokemon Center before carrying on.

* * *

Mauville City

* * *

The whole building had been shut down, and no more did Team Aqua have control over the televised news updates broadcast across Hoenn. Archie was furious at first; an intern had seemingly taken down their entire operation by lying in wait and pressing a button, before making a quick escape. Then, the League put the gig up for disenfranchised media companies to bid for, and soon there were corporations all around Hoenn trying to get their hands on the region's most reliable news channel. Archie had been ready to kill.

Now, however, he felt a little less tense. While they didn't have their televised outlet, they still held control of multiple news operations through Newscast alert and online reporting, so they still had a sizable input on media influence through the region, however downsized it might now be. Not to mention, no one would suspect them to have continued influence this way after supposedly having their entire operation shut down. Yes, he could work with this. What he couldn't work with, however, was a lack of resources to continue.

They'd moved from their usual base in their old office building that had been seized to an underground system they'd had, just in case of an emergency evacuation. It was linked to the Old Mauville, but had most of its building under the lake that lay under the cycle track between Mauville and Slateport. It was usually inhabited by grunts with no homes to go to, and the dormitories were constantly flooded with disillusioned youths who'd been kicked out of home too young to know how to cope, failed trainers who couldn't face ever returning home, people who had to choose between a life of criminal activity or living on the streets, or those rare few who truly believed that the actions of Team Aqua were for the greater good. These tended to be the kinds who were promoted to Admin status eventually, and it was Admins who sat around the long metal table in the main meeting chamber, waiting apprehensively for Archie's arrival. The room bubbled with an uncomfortable throb of noise, gossip over recent events echoing noisily and bothering those of whom would rather a preparatory quiet.

Axel sat among those who were bothered, a little tenser than most. Ordinarily, he sat keenly in Archie's good graces, a media darling and public face to quietly advocate and normalise the views of Team Aqua. His documentary series on the aquatic life of Hoenn had been a huge success, and was watched not just regionally but had been picked up nationally. When he'd found information on Mt Pyre whilst innocently recording at the Abandoned Ship down south, it had seemed he could do no wrong.

Mt Pyre, however, seemed to disprove that theory.

Other Admins jostled and snickered between each other, some nervous for Archie's arrival and others excited, bubbling and bristling at the thought of the golden boy being publicly scolded. Across the table, Axel's eyes met with Shelley's, Archie's daring second in command, and silently he queried his fate with a too long blink. Shelley dutifully ignored him, her own eyes crinkled with indifference, but she couldn't hide the hint of a smirk that traced along her sculpted purple lips.

Eventually, the building trembled with the low thud of footsteps colliding with metal floors. Voices in the room raised a little, the noise bouncing off the aluminium walls and echoing through the chamber. Axel let his head fall backwards for a moment, rolling it side to side to click his neck into place. He was as ready as he would ever be.

When the grey, rusting doors swung open, and Archie took his seat at the head of the table, there was finally silence. Axel exhaled slowly, as quietly as he could. He found himself missing the noise. Archie cracked his knuckles, and the click was loud enough to be heard on the other side of the room. Gruffly, he rubbed his fingers through the bristles of hair around his jaw, and the sound of scratches permeated the chamber.

"So," Archie opened measuredly, leaning forward on his hands. "What's next?"

New waves of clamour opened, admins eagerly submitting themselves before him to offer plans and solutions that overlapped each other into incomprehensibility. Axel stayed silent and still, waiting for the inevitable rejection from his leader and the advantage taken from the submissive nature of his coworkers. The noise was a comfort, now. A distraction from what was to come. It wasn't to last though, and soon Archie raised a teasing hand, waving it dismissively and smirking as he flashed teeth that were intrusively white.

"Children," he taunted, wagging a finger in the air. "We all know what's next. Did you think I'd trust you to come up with divergences on our only available option? Don't be ridiculous." The room was stone cold and silent. "After what happened at Pyre, no less." Axel felt his neck stiffen, but he chose not to look at Archie as he spoke. It was safer to stare at his reflection in the cool metallic table, holding eye contact with only himself. Archie was quiet a beat longer than Axel anticipated him being, but soon there was a tut of disappointment.

"What's the next step you have in mind then, Arch?" Shelley spoke openly, probably well versed in his answer already. In all likelihood, she just meant to push the meeting along. "Continued pursuit of the orb?"

"No," Archie throbbed. "It's under league protection, wherever it is. There's more than one way to locate and manipulate Kyogre."

"Are we really trusting in the word of some pirate?" A voice burst out from across the room, unsure. "He could have said anything if it meant money, you know what the Phantom is like. All he wanted was money, probably. He'll have just said what we want to hear." It was from a newly minted admin, of which there were many in Team Aqua recently.

All grunts were organised into teams for missions and training purposes, and with such pressure to make moves placed in Aqua's lap from Magma's sudden press forwards and from their fall through on the media, every team now had a representative at Admin status. Those who had been admins before them were recognised at a higher status, such as Shelley and Axel, and most of the new admins were a long way from competent in the eyes of Archie.

This was clearly one of them.

"Please, speak more." Archie's eyes glistened warningly. There was a honeyed tone to his voice, alluring but threatening. "I'm thrilled to hear exactly what you think of the operation I've laid out as an order." The young admin in question swallowed audibly, glancing around the room apprehensively. Like Axel, he now seemed determined to look anywhere but directly at Archie. Shelley snorted a laugh, flicking long dark hair out of her face.

"She won't be in Petalburg," Shelley stated authoritatively. "She'll have gone somewhere to hide, probably. Can't have a little princess getting hurt, after all."

"Possible," Archie shrugged, sitting back in his seat, calming. "She seemed a little less meek than you're giving her credit for, though. She's not the kind to back down from a fight." Something wicked flickered through Archie's eyes, and his teeth peered over his lower lip as he smiled, smoothing his hand along the edge of the table. "Feisty girl."

"You think she's waiting for you?" Shelley arched a well-plucked eyebrow.

"No," Archie brought one of his knuckles to his mouth, trapping the skin there between his teeth. "I think she's out looking for that Manaphy. I don't think we need to apprehend her at all, I think we just need to follow her."

"She'll lead us right to him," Shelley preened, enjoying the idea. "We can pluck it right out of her arms."

"Right," Archie banged his fist on the table decisively. "We track her. We still have informants all around the region and a well known girl like her won't be hard to find. Once she's found, I want our best on her tail. Shelley, I'm leaving that with you."

"Consider it handled." All the best missions tended to fall to Shelley, Axel had noticed. Mount Pyre had been a big chance for him, but apparently not one that would work to his favour. He sat quietly. He might have slipped by unreprimanded for now.

"Next, we need more intel on Magma," Archie continued, swinging around to face the rest of the admins. "The virus we bugged them with all those years back has been astronomically helpful, but we need more info on the inside. I'm leaving this open to all of you. Come to me with ideas on how to get on the inside. I don't want computer hacking, I have all their files. I want to have blueprints of their base, I want a fly on the wall of every meeting they have, I want to know the strengths and weaknesses of every leader in that team, do you hear me? This is your primary objective unless Shelley comes to you to help with the surveillance of our little princess." There was a general murmur of confirmation that rippled through the meeting room, and Archie was satisfied. He did not verbally dismiss them, but waved an impatient hand in the air and swung about to face away from them on his chair, letting them know they were to leave.

Axel stood, about ready to do the same, when Archie cleared his throat in a way that made him immediately find his seat again. Shelley smothered a smirk behind her hand, following the last of the rest of the admins out, and smiled at him from the door as she pulled it to a close behind her. Axel and Archie sat in silence.

"You've done well till now, Axel," Archie murmured lightly, considering. "Without you, we wouldn't have known much about Mount Pyre in the first place. Not to mention, your show is really raising awareness for our cause outside of this team's influence. It's not like you're bad at your job."

"I'm sorry, Archie," Axel breathed, staring at the table. "The Magmas, they outnumbered us. I was up against their two highest-ranking admins, I think. I had no way of knowing the orbs wouldn't be there. I didn't realise…"

"I've got to do something," Archie shrugged. "Ordinarily, I'd take a little pleasure in chewing out someone after such a disastrous affair, but I don't feel that way towards you. Not someone who believes so deeply in our cause."

"I appreciate that more than you know," Axel finally felt brave enough to look at him, but Archie's chair was turned away from him. He could just about see the angling of Archie's arms from the elbows resting on the sides of his chair, and they looked as though they were propping up Archie's head, probably lost in the bristle of his beard. "It won't happen again."

"No," Archie said, a little firmer. "It won't. You're going out to Johto to film. Maybe once we reach the next stage of our operation you'll be brought back in. But for now, even if just for show to the other admins, I need you gone." Axel felt something in him plummet. This was what he had been afraid of. "Keep filming, keep your rep clean. You'll get another chance in the field when things move along."

"Yes sir," Axel replied stiffly. Archie had little else to say, waving a hand in the air once more, and so Axel came to his feet and pulled himself out of the room one foot at a time. His body felt heavy, like lead replaced his bones. As he shut the doors behind him, he could see Shelley stood in the distance, smiling a little victoriously, and she turned on her heel and bounced away.

* * *

Slateport City

* * *

The evening air in Slateport was salty, but so had been the wind on the journey over. Stepping out of the harbour, Paul squinted as he tried to remember the way to the Pokemon Center from there. He hadn't had time to have his Pokemon checked over since leaving Mount Pyre, and that was uncomfortably long ago now, even if he himself hadn't slept. He figured he could allow himself a short rest, a brief half an hour perhaps, while Nurse Joy checked over his pokemon, although he was sure he'd healed them up fairly well with his own medical supplies while he waited for the boat at Lilycove harbour.

The sun was low, and the sky burned a pretty pink, but Paul wasn't one to notice these things. Instead, he pressed on, his feet burning sore and hot in his shoes, and sweat running down his arms trapped in the heat of his jacket. He didn't intend to take it off again. The familiar red roof of the Pokemon Center crawled into sight, and he felt his chest expand, looking forward to a small rest and a glass of cold orange juice while his pokemon were checked. He didn't want to leave it any longer than that though; if he walked fast, he could make it to Petalburg by this time tomorrow.

He was about to cross a road that would take him the rest of the way to the centre, and in his exhaustion didn't quite manage to look both ways before daringly taking a step forward. A large, low slung red bike skidded to a halt a little way before him, freezing on sight, with two passengers sat astride it. The one at the front froze up a little, her back straightening. He lifted a hand awkwardly.

"Sorry," Paul offered bluntly. "I didn't look."

She shook her head and waved him on.

Paul crossed the road a little faster, so not to hold the bikers up any longer, and the double doors of the Pokemon Center opened up to him, suddenly blasted by air conditioning and fluorescent lighting. Nurse Joy was happy to tend to his Pokemon, and after some quick explanation she assured him a Chansey would bring him a drink, and she would wake him when his Pokemon were ready if he wanted to close his eyes on a sofa for a little while. He hesitated, but agreed, and Paul closed his eyes for the first time in two days.

Quietly, he figured a bike like that could be handy about now.

* * *

Petalburg City

* * *

A quiet ticking sound rang off the watch tied around her wrist, but Caroline barely noticed it. She sat on the floor, leaning heavily against the wall of the hallway that lead to the front door of her home, waiting. Her eyes were heavy, but focused firmly on the handle of the door, waiting to leap to action at any sign of movement. There was puffy skin around her face, red and blotchy from crying and wiping furiously at her own tears.

Norman walked by her, and not for the first time that day. He let out a long, low sigh and strode upstairs, feeling nauseous at the sight. His plan had been to just go into the bathroom and splash cool water onto his face, but instead, he found himself pausing outside of his daughter's bedroom, a tight knot lingering in his stomach. He opened the door apprehensively and wondered to himself when the last time he'd been inside his daughter's bedroom had been. He couldn't remember ever actually going inside of it.

It wasn't how he remembered ever seeing it, at least. He remembered pink walls and a pristine pile of pokemon toys that were mostly kept in wrappings or untouched, lining shelves that had been organised by her mother. He remembered lilac curtains with flower patterns and trophies from school, like a small brass instrument trophy from her time in her school orchestra clumsily playing three notes on the flute, or her little ribbon she'd won for the getting the best history mark in the class.

Her room wasn't pink anymore, but a bright sunny yellow. There were pictures, so many pictures, from photos crudely stuck up with tape to framed pictures hung proudly like certificates. Friends and smiling faces, Pokemon that were hers and Pokemon that were not, beautiful places with gushing waterfalls, bustling cities and epic wildernesses. There was a great, imposing sepia map of the world laid out on the ceiling above her bed, and places she'd visited were marked by little pins holding polaroids of her experiences there in place. Travel books and contest ribbons lined her shelves, and a couple of her Pokemon plushes from childhood looked significantly more worn, a little Swablu and a small Torchic proudly placed in her bed, snuggled into her comforter.

Norman lifted it, feeling the soft worn material in his hands. He smelt it. It held so much of her, and yet so little.

He took the comforter downstairs with him, bundled in his arms, and found his wife unmoving, but her eyes beginning to close and her head swaying against the wall. Quietly, he sat next to her, and wrapped the comforter around the two of them, pulling her across to rest on his shoulder.

"She's not coming back until she's done what she needs to do," Norman told her quietly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I know." Caroline swallowed a sob.

"May will be fine," Norman smiled. "She stopped being a little girl a long time ago." Caroline barked a laugh, though there was little humour to it.

"I guess I know that too." She chanced a smile. "I didn't know you did, though."

"She'll be fine," Norman repeated, more for himself than his wife. Neither of them felt quite ready to move just yet, though.

* * *

Slateport Beach

* * *

Slateport beach wasn't quite empty, so May felt she had a decent chance of finding a boat around somewhere. She parked the bike up and chained it to a wall at the edge of the beach, and she and Drew made their way onto the sand in a stiff silence, each of them glad to stretch their muscles out a little after the journey.

"What's the plan?" Drew asked lightly, almost thinking he didn't want to know. He twisted both of his arms behind his back to try and crack his spine a little.

"Rent a boat," May explained briskly. "Surf south. Hope to find Manaphy. There's the plan."

"That's…" Drew faltered, feeling a little numb. He looked at her, but she wasn't looking back. Her eyes were adrift outward, wild and yet narrowly focused. "May, that's a terrible plan."

"So?" May snapped, a little defensive. "It's the plan we've got."

"May, we will literally get lost at sea and starve to death," Drew told her blankly, waiting for her to tell him she was joking. Her face went stone cold, and Drew felt his blood do the same. "May… neither of us has any experience of navigating the ocean. Neither of us have any idea of whereabouts we need to look. Neither of us has any clue of how to get there even if we did. There is a lot of ocean out there to look for a temple that you've told me is invisible about ninety-five percent of the time."

"It's a better plan than no plan," May jutted a lip forward, storming forwards. There was a lingering awareness between them of the significance of this beach for them, of their combative meeting a decade ago, of contests and grand festivals long gone and of long, poignant talks by the shore. Desperately, he searched for a conversation to distract her. Instead of acknowledging their fond memories, Drew found himself fueled by something else.

"Was that the guy we met in Dewford?" He asked briskly, his voice loaded with a bitter tone. "The guy who you nearly ran over."

"Paul?" May's voice trembled, ignoring a pulse of anger. "Yeah, I think so. Didn't seem the time to chat, though."

"You should have run him down," Drew scowled, lowering his voice to a grunt in the hopes she might not hear. She did, and sent him a glare over his shoulder.

"What's your problem with Paul?" Her footfall turned into slight stomps, almost petulant as she pushed ahead of him. The imprint of her feet in the sand became deeper and more pronounced. "I mean, sure, I'm mad at him. But you don't have any reason to be."

"He just rubbed me up the wrong way when we met him." Drew was becoming exasperated, trying to keep pace. "Clearly you agree with me, you just said you're mad at him."

"I'm allowed to be mad at him," May retorted hotly. "I actually know him, for one, and I have a valid reason."

"Oh, you know him." Drew rolled his eyes. "Other than that day we saw him you've never mentioned him to me once! Normally it'd take a judicial embargo to keep you from talking." His own voice was beginning to rise. "Stop walking towards your death for five minutes and explain what's going on with him! Do you actually know him that much at all?" May spun on her heel, stopping dead in her tracks. Drew hadn't been expecting it, and he nearly walked right into her. "Hey…"

"No," she asserted. "I know him. The details of that aren't any of your business, Drew."

"Do you like him or something?" Drew carried on, his ears beginning to burn pink. May wasn't sure if he'd noticed, and if it was due to sun or due to his temper, but she didn't bother to point it out. May blinked, shook her head a little, and turned back away from him, determinedly picking up her pace again. Drew followed, sighing in a way that made her feel like a little girl being chastised by a parent.

"I don't like him in any way that you're implying," was her eventual reply, cast quietly over her shoulder. Drew looked up sharply. "I just have a point to prove." There was a hut in the distance, one that sold soda pop and rented boating equipment, but the closer it got the more closed it looked. May's purposeful stride slowed. "Damn."

"Well, maybe sleeping on it would be a worthwhile thing to do," Drew offered, a little relieved, despite what felt like might be a growing headache. "It's not worth rushing out into nothing."

"Ever heard of instinct?" May scowled, unsure and defeated. "I wish Ash was here." Drew paused, offended. "He'd understand. He'd go along with this."

"Sorry for not being Ash," Drew said slowly, a little hurt and a little confused. "Look, there's nothing we can do right now either way. We should just head to the Pokemon Center for the night, and discuss it again in the morning."

"Fine," May agreed bluntly. "We can't go to the Center though."

"We can't?" Drew raised an eyebrow, lost. May waited a moment and then Drew sighed. "We can't."

"Aqua has media influence everywhere, right?" May shook her head, uncomfortable. "They could have people posted, to look for me."

"Right." Drew dropped his bag to the floor. "Beach camping?"

"Beach camping." May collapsed to the sand, defeated, and Drew dropped next to her, each of them catching their breath before they considered setting up tents for overnight, enjoying the slowly dimming light of the evening. The sand was smooth under their fingers and warmed by the day's sun, and the sea was smooth and supple ahead of them. It was almost inviting. Drew's breathing evened out, a little less anxious than before. May's shoulders were stiff, and she was agitated.

"I'm sorry," Drew said, quietly. It was something he felt like he'd said a lot recently. May shrugged next to him, not looking at him. "You made it clear at Lilycove I don't have a right to pry into your personal life." There was a lingering tension still bubbling between them, one that May knew wasn't long from coming to a head, and so she rested her head on his shoulder, breathing out slowly. She relished the few moments they had before Drew would declare the sun too low, and that they'd need to set up camp before they lost light. She relished the little time they had left.

She lifted a hand and pointed to the sky overhead.

"When we first met," she murmured, her voice longing. "Did you see the fireworks?"

"Yeah," Drew breathed out, relaxing. "It was pretty. It's inspired a few of my appeals in the past."

"A good muse," May giggled, falling back into her favourite rhythm with her closest friend.

"I've had better since then," Drew admitted softly, his voice taking on a reverent tone. May felt her finger twitch, and for a moment, she became awfully wistful.

"So much has happened over the years since I started coordinating," she mumbled, leaning into him. "Since we started, I mean." Drew glanced at her, arching an eyebrow. "Do you ever think things should have changed more than they have?"

"That depends on what you're wishing had changed," Drew replied evenly. May sighed and clutched at the sand in her hand. It was warm from the sun and soft and slick as it ran through her fingers.

"I wish I… had changed in other ways." May shrugged. "I guess I don't know what I mean."

"I guess," Drew closed his eyes for a moment, imagining those first fireworks again. "I think maybe I wish you'd changed too."


	12. Scared Flesh: Chest Wounds

**Scarred Flesh: Chest Wounds**

* * *

Slateport Beach

* * *

With a groan, Drew tried to orient himself. His upper torso was stiff from sleeping in a twisted position, and as he sat upright he rolled his shoulders back to try and loosen his sore muscles. He'd given May his sleeping bag to cushion her more from the sand, leaving him with an uneven and uncomfortable platform for sleep. He glanced across their shared tent, and she was still sleeping soundly, her face relaxed. A little bit of sun was trickling through the mostly closed tent doors, dappling her cheekbones with freckles of sunlight. Drew swallowed thickly. When they'd occasionally travelled parts of their journey together, she'd always slept facing him, her hands tucked under her head as a makeshift cushion, in the kind of deep sleep that came with total peace. She'd always been a deep sleeper.

Drew pulled himself up but approached her with a stiff crouch. He glanced about her, and saw her phone lying near her, a little sandy and plugged into a portable charger. Deftly, he pocketed it, darting out of the tent as quietly as he could.

He knew May's password - because everyone did, which he always told her defeated the point of a password, but she never listened - and opened up her contacts. The sun was still pretty low, and her phone told him that it was still just before five in the morning. Drew wasn't sure if he'd be awake yet. In fact, he was quite pessimistic about it. Nonetheless, he pressed May's phone to his ear and waited patiently, listening to the ringing dialling tone. It kept cutting in and out like it was struggling to hold a signal.

"Hello? Hello?" Ash's voice crackled through. Drew sighed, relieved. "May, is that you?"

"It's Drew," he spoke in a hushed voice, glancing back at the tent. He thought he heard her move. "I'm using May's phone, I'm with her."

"I'm on… to Hoenn now." The reception splintered. "Where are you?"

"We're at Slateport beach," Drew said stiffly, standing and walking about restlessly, hoping to find a better signal.

"What?" Ash blanked.

"Slateport beach," Drew enunciated. "Where are you?"

"I'm on a boat to Hoenn, I'll be at Slateport in a few hours." His voice was much clearer now. Drew let out a long breath. "Did you say Slateport?"

"Yes," he looked out over the ocean as if hoping to see the ship Ash was on approach on the horizon. "We're at the beach. May is still sleeping. She wants to hire a boat and just sail out into the sea to find Manaphy. I can't…" Drew paused, taking a moment. "I can't convince her not to. But you might be able to."

On the other side of the phone, Ash let out a long, low hum. Drew rubbed his forehead, working out some creases that had subconsciously emerged. "If she really wants to find Manaphy, you know nothing will really stop her."

"I know," Drew said quietly. "She needs a better plan than this though. It's dangerous. Quite frankly, it's stupid."

"If that's her only option, then she's going to do it. I'll try and talk to her, but I can't promise she won't go out there. It's Manaphy, you know? She'd do anything for Manaphy." Ash's voice trailed off a little, softly. "They had some crazy strong bond. You'd have to see it to believe it."

"I believe it," Drew scoffed, although he wasn't totally sure that he did. "How come you're on your way to Hoenn anyway?"

"I was staying with Brandon, the battle frontier guy that got attacked by Team Magma?" Ash's voice lilted upwards, checking Drew knew about what he was referring to. Drew hummed a confirmation. "Yeah, well, an old friend of mine, Gary, he and I went to go help out if we could. Anyway, we were there when the whole Team Aqua interview with May happened, and this other friend of mine Paul was there too." Drew immediately tensed. "He went to go check some stuff out in Hoenn, and then he called back to us and told us May was in trouble, and that Team Aqua were going to try and track her down. He's been on Aqua and Magma's tail for a while now I think."

"That's… concerning." Drew pinched the bridge of his nose. "So he's still tracking them?"

"I think he's on his way to Petalburg, to keep an eye on things. We should probably take May there," Ash continued, oblivious. "It'll be safer if we all stay together in case they come to find her, and Paul and Norman are incredible battlers. Team Aqua wouldn't stand a chance against all of us!"

Drew looked up at the sky, considering. Paul would be in Petalburg, waiting for her. "Alright. That's fine." He didn't have any excuse to object. "Who is this Paul guy, anyway?"

"He's an old rival of mine, we go way back." Ash's voice took on a jovial, fond tone. "We had a rough start, but once you spend a little time with Paul he starts to make more sense; he's not a bad guy. I only realised he and May were friends recently though."

"They're friends?" Drew queried, feeling sick.

"Well, I think so." Ash paused, unsure. "Actually, I've only seen them argue. I know May gets under his skin though, you can see it. She has him on edge, almost like a really good rival would!" Drew stayed quiet, looking back at the tend forlornly. "Maybe Paul can talk to her, too. They definitely get each other riled up!"

"Definitely." Drew echoed weakly. "How long till you dock?"

"A few hours yet," Ash told him wearily. "It's been such a long journey, and I can't sleep I'm so restless! But Pikachu and I will come straight to the beach when we arrive; we'll be as fast as we can!"

"That's fine. I'll keep her here until then." Drew rolled his shoulders again, feeling them click uncomfortably. "See you."

"See you!" Ash chirped, but Drew had already hung up. He continued to watch the tent, frowning. A surge of adrenaline pulsed through him and left him nauseous, quietly aware that this was probably his last chance.

He was a little further away from the tent than he'd been when he'd first called Ash, but something seemed off. It bulged occasionally on the side May was sleeping, and seemed somehow a little unsteady. Worried she was waking up, he deleted Ash's call from her phone history and broke into a light jog back towards the tent. The closer he got, the more disturbed noises he could hear, and the sound of her thrashing about in her sleeping bag.

He pulled back the tent doors quickly. She had kicked the sleeping bags away from her, her legs kicking out occasionally and her right arm cradled to her chest. Her breathing was laboured, and her forehead was slick with sweat. Panicked, Drew knelt next to her and felt her forehead, but she wasn't hot.

"May," he said gently, cupping her head a little. "May, wake up." Her head twisted away from him. "May," he said again, a little firmly, giving her shoulders a light shake.

"Dad!" She sat bolt upright, her right arm reaching out to grasp at nothing. Her eyes were bloodshot and wide open, but her breathing began to slow as she watched her own fingers fold into a fist in front of her. "... Oh."

"Are you… alright?" Drew asked weakly, slipping her phone somewhere she wouldn't notice he'd had it. She shook her head a little, but not in response to him. It was more to wake herself up.

"Yes," May panted evenly. "Sorry. A bad dream. I'm alright."

* * *

Lilycove

* * *

The lab would ordinarily be empty at this time. Usually, it tended to become more populated around mid-afternoon; most of the scientists under Team Magma employment worked later rather than early, preferring to stay awake with something until it was finished rather than sleep and wake up early, delaying the end result. They had a few hours until a gaggle of bleary-eyed lab coats began to potter about the clinical white room. There was a big, empty glass container against the wall, with ports for various wires and structures lining the seam of its door. The large glassy casing reflected the synthetic lights to the point of obstructing it's mostly clear view.

Madison wasn't sure why it caught her attention.

"Madison, are you with us?" Maxie's cool voice clipped through, and she blushed uncharacteristically.

"Sorry," she offered, a little fried. "Fading."

"She was up late last night," Courtney mentioned briskly, hoping to move on swiftly. "Looking through the gym leader files for research purposes."

"Ah," Maxie smiled, appeased. "You're taking the upcoming project very seriously I see."

"I don't want to let you down," Madison swallowed and gave a thick, collaborative smile. Courtney blinked distantly. There was a quiet tension between the two of a lingering awareness that Madison had been one of the first to leave Headquarters yesterday.

"I've every confidence," Maxie reassured her with a curled upturn to his lip. "Now, as we were saying, Courtney over the next few weeks I'll need you to pull back your presence in the lab and shift focus to preparing for the orbs arrival. We'll want to do a full biopsy on its chemical structure and expose it to as many variables as we can."

"I've already begun preparations," Courtney replied evenly. "I've had some equipment sent up to my office so I can conduct my work privately, behind a locked door."

"Excellent," Maxie praised, adjusting his glasses lightly. "I'll stop in and check your progress later. I'll cover your absence in the labs, and ensure research continues in the technology we need for our upcoming underwater expeditions. So long as we achieve our goals in obtaining the orbs, you have complete autonomy."

"I know Madison has begun the formulation of her character," Courtney gave an uncharacteristic smirk in her direction, and Madison replied with a fond smile. "She's an excellent asset, Maxie. She won't let you down."

"I'm only as good as my partner," Madison reminded her softly. Any lingering tension vanished.

"I have an even greater confidence for hearing it," Maxie assured them, delighted. "My only caution would be this. If the orbs have been placed in Petalburg, with civilians who could be harmed so close at hand, we can be sure that the League will have placed the utmost of protection in the area. This will be a dangerous undertaking."

"We'll handle it," Madison told him fiercely, braver than she felt. Chancing another glance at Courtney, she smiled. She found a little more strength.

* * *

Slateport Beach

* * *

She was a little unsteady on her feet but determined as she packed up the tent. Drew watched her pensively, not helping, letting her clumsy fingers and tired eyes slow her down. She chatted topiclessly at him, ranging from sentence to sentence with just enough coherence for him to follow. Clearly, May was exhausted, and possibly delirious from her dream. Drew didn't fight it though - it would possibly make her easier to convince.

"Did you see what time the boat rental place opens?" May asked dizzily, her hands slipping over the pole hooks for the tent for the third time. She swore quietly and readjusted again. "I feel like six in the morning is a little early for most businesses to be open. We can just camp outside the place until they open though. There's a soda shop nearby, I think."

"We could go into the town and get something to eat," Drew offered hopefully, sat a short way away. "Fuel up."

"I couldn't eat," May replied quickly, high on adrenaline. Drew gave her a disbelieving glance. "What? I'm too… on edge. I'm excited to see Manaphy, and nervous about Team Aqua, and, and…"

"Trying to recall your expert sea navigation classes?" He quipped dryly.

"Something like that," May breezed, not validating his response. "If you're feeling so smart, why not help with the tent?" Drew glanced back at her again, unsure how to respond. "You think the longer it takes, the more likely I am to change my mind, aren't you." Her voice trailed off a little, getting quiet.

"And here I thought you were too tired for higher brain function today," Drew muttered back, not meeting her eye.

"I'm smarter than you give me credit for, sometimes," May replied stiffly, her shoulders hunching around her neck a little. She dropped the poles on the floor.

"You…" Drew hesitated. "I'm… I'm trying to figure out the right words, hang on a second."

"What is it?" May felt her chest get tight. She had known at some point his act of coming along quietly would cease, and she would have to face his combative reasoning, but she had hoped it would take a little longer. She stayed stood over the tent, not looking back at him.

"I just… I'm not trying to diminish what you're saying, that you'd have some… instinct, that would lead you to Manaphy. I'm not underestimating your bond with him or anything like that." Drew opted for a cautious open because he knew it would lead to a longer conversation - or at least, he hoped. "But don't you think that this will take a little more thought than just jumping on a ship and heading out to open water?"

"I know," May replied quietly, feeling her eyes sting. Drew blinked. He hadn't expected that. "I know it's risky, and not exactly foolproof, but… it's all I have. I have to do something, I can't just… let Manaphy down, like that. I can't."

"There's got to be another way," Drew pressed eagerly, feeling a touch of hope. "Let's take a few days - set up a base of operations, and start planning something more concrete. We could go up to Slateport Museum and find out information about the sea life around here, maybe find stuff that links to Manaphy. Maybe find some clues to where we might want to search…"

"We don't have a few days, Drew," May explained briskly but trying to keep patient. "Manaphy could be in danger now. Team Aqua could, I mean…" she trailed off, a little apprehensive. "I don't even know if it's safe enough for me to be in one place for a few days right now, anyway."

"Are you looking for Manaphy?" Drew raised an eyebrow. "Or are you scared of Team Aqua?" Finally, May turned around and looked at him. He started to stand up, as though swelling in confidence, and subconsciously, her hand balled into a fist.

"Is that what you think of me?" She asked numbly, her forehead creasing with hurt. "I'm using this as an excuse to run away and hide?"

"No," Drew amended quickly, nervously flicking hair from his face. "I just think, if Team Aqua is a concern, there are better places to hide out than open water…"

"I don't need to hide out," May told him fiercely, her heart beating a little louder in her chest. "I don't enjoy the prospect of them finding me, but I'm not hiding from them either. I can take care of them if we cross paths. I'm capable of doing that, Drew."

"I'm sure," Drew dismissed quickly, moving towards her and touching her forearm lightly. "But you shouldn't feel like you need to throw yourself in their path. If you wanted to lay low for a while… that would be a sensible thing to do, and we could find somewhere safe. You could come with me to La Rousse for a while, hide out in my parent's manor. Or if you think they'd make a connection between us, we could leave the region. We could go north, to Sinnoh. Or even further - Alola is a beautiful region, I've heard. There are no contests there, no one would know who we are…"

"Drew," May interrupted, her eyes watering. "You really never did believe in me, did you?"

"What?" Drew stopped, incredulous. "I'm offering to leave everything behind and go into hiding with you, and that's what you take from it?"

"When we first met, you didn't think I was good enough," May told him, a little brokenly, shaking her head. "I felt like we got past that, I thought. Maybe I was wrong, maybe you never, well… I just don't know why you can't respect me enough to trust me. To believe in me enough to know I could handle this. Or to know me well enough to know I wouldn't run away."

"Arceus, you are so stubborn," Drew felt his mouth go dry. This wasn't what he had hoped for. "I can't believe you're being so dogmatic and insecure and thinking this is some whole character reflection on you - I just want to wake up tomorrow in a world where you're alive." He breathed out heavily in a short puff, feeling some angry desperation begin to bubble in his chest. "There is one thing that hasn't changed since we met though - you, you and your… infuriating inability to listen to advice that will actually be useful to you. And only ever following through on stupid ideas!"

"You - you always do this!" May's eyes had filled with tears now, but she didn't seem sad any more. There was some kind of long-repressed tension in her that was breaking. "You antagonise me and act like you're better than me and claim it's out of some respect you have for me but you never treat me like an equal! Not really. And then when I get hurt by it, you just, you just throw a rose at the problem, and you run away and never really face me and tell me what you mean! I've always respected you so much that I've taken it, but it's not right!" Her voice finally broke, and an angry sob split her words. She took a moment to breathe. "Maybe it's time I stopped letting you dictate my self-esteem - and, and maybe it's time I take some authority back in this whole one-sided rivalry thing we've had all these years!"

"One-sided?" Drew almost laughed, it was so absurd. "One-sided? I follow you everywhere, like some lost Lillipup, into caves and forests and ridiculous dumb danger all the time on your stupid expeditions because I… honestly, May, please, just this once will you listen to me?"

"Why did you come?" May demanded, her face pink. She rubbed at her wet cheeks with the back of her hand. "If you were just going to… to give up on me, to not believe in me…"

"Why do you need my reasons for following you to line up with some idiotic belief that you're indestructible?" Drew shot back, gesturing with his hands to try and shove the frustration out of him. "I am aware of the logical inevitability of you getting _hurt_ if you carry on like this!"

"Admit that you don't respect me!" May squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, but then met his eye line determinedly. "Admit it."

"I obviously respect you May!" She hadn't seen him this angry for a long time - possibly ever. Drew had completely lost his cool. "I respect you more than anyone else - enough to call you out on bad ideas, enough to care if you get hurt, and enough to try and protect you!"

"I don't need you to protect me!" May half shouted, half cried.

"I'm going to anyway!" Drew retorted, feeling his eyes pricking. He reached forward to grab her shoulders, to keep her from bolting, but she pulled out of his reach, her stare nervous, like she knew she was about to go too far.

"I'm not yours to protect!" May returned, her voice wavering. Drew hardened.

"So," he levelled out his breathing for a moment, trying to regain composure. "Now we get to what this is really about." His voice betrayed him, cracking at the end. "Why was it so awful that I kissed you in Lilycove?"

"Drew…" May whispered, her hands reaching out to him suddenly, desperately.

"No," he took his turn to pull back. "Why was it so horrible for you?"

"I didn't say it was," May tried weakly, her face pale. "I didn't say that…"

"You despised it," Drew said hollowly, his own eyes now full of tears. He turned away from her, desperate for her not to see. "Why is this so hard? It shouldn't be this wrong…"

"What's wrong?" May asked resignedly, knowing.

"I'm in love with you, May."

* * *

Battle Pyramid

* * *

Brandon and Gary were sat, mostly quietly, as they shared a meal that Gary had prepared. They were sat on either side of the table in the Battle Pyramid kitchen, which had significantly more mess since the day Ash and Gary had come to the door. Eggs and toast were piled in appetising heaps in front of them, and Brandon had brought out a large bottle of orange juice which they drank greedily from, the acidity of the orange cutting through how early the day was. Brandon was an early riser, and while Gary was too, it was earlier than he was used to.

"I wonder if Ash got to Hoenn alright," Gary wondered out loud. "His ship should be arriving around now."

"Ash is capable," Brandon told him boldly. "I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah, of course," Gary scoffed, suddenly embarrassed. "I wasn't worrying, just wondering if there had been any delays." Brandon gave him a curious look but didn't immediately respond.

"What happened when he left?" He asked lightly. "I know he's going to find May, but the interview was a few days ago. I'm surprised that he didn't leave earlier."

"Oh," Gary paused. He'd forgotten a key part of the story when explaining it yesterday. "That guy - he was here. Paul?"

"Yes, Paul." Brandon now looked sharply interested, and Gary was momentarily taken back. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I think so. He looked tired when he called, but nothing worrying." Gary shrugged it off. "He called and said he'd been tracking Magma and Aqua, and he knew they were about to hone in on Petalburg and look for May, so Ash went to help out directly."

"Paul is protecting this girl?" Brandon was visibly surprised, which Gary took as a sign to be more responsive to this news than he previously had been. "I see. He must have been distracted from my research."

"Speaking of your research…" Gary glanced away for a moment to his notebook, which sat on the kitchen counter. He'd been carrying it with him everywhere since he'd arrived here. "I've admired your papers on archaeology and your finds in Hoenn for years. I was just wondering… how did you do it?" He paused, swallowing thickly. "How did you always know where to look?"

"Oh." Brandon stopped for a second, thinking. "Well, it's easy to know where to study if you follow the stories of the land. Myths and legends… they seem absurd sometimes. But they can guide you, and they can lead you to uncover truths bigger than those stories could ever have encaptured."

"Some of those legends feel…" Gary hesitated, for once conscious that he could sound rude. He was slouched in his chair, playing with the eggs on his plate. "Don't you think the more absurd ones are… just fairy tales? There's no way some of these things could happen. Like a temple in the sea you can only see in a certain eclipse, or a pokemon who can travel through time…" he began to shake his head. "I can't comprehend a world in which these things can be true."

"No!" Brandon suddenly bellowed, as if he was battling a trainer who had made an incompetent mistake. Gary scrambled in his seat, sitting upright and dropping his fork with a clatter. "You are no authority on what is possible and impossible in this world. These stories about the mystical world we live in, they have to guide and push your research if this is the field you wish to pursue. You have forgotten one crucial, complex matter that all who study Pokemon must keep at the forefront of your mind when researching because it helps answer every question you combat, no matter how absurd the truths your empirical research may be leading you to believe. I am surprised your grandfather hasn't embedded it into your skull."

"What?" Gary asked quietly, feeling scolded.

"Pokemon," Brandon said quietly, sitting back in his chair. "Pokemon make anything possible. Our job is to uncover exactly what they choose to do with that power, and that way, we can better understand them."

Gary looked at his hands for a moment and glanced back to his book. Suddenly, a lot of evidence he'd dismissed or deemed unreliable came flooding back into his mind. He'd been making some key mistakes for a long time.

* * *

Slateport Beach

* * *

An uncomfortable silence existed between them for a moment. Drew stared at her, mouth slightly agape, desperately waiting on what her next words might be. Her lips parted, and then closed, struggling to find words that would make everything okay again, but she couldn't find them.

Eventually, she settled on "I know." It didn't have the desired effect.

"No," Drew blinked, and suddenly, desperately, he came closer to her. "It's supposed to be us. It's always been building up to this - to us. That's how it is, that's what everyone says. We're two sides to the same coin, we're the rivals that grew together, we're partners, we're best friends, we're supposed to end up _together_ May," he explained frantically as if reminding her of all of this would work. She swallowed whatever lump had formed in her throat.

"Then why don't I feel like this too?" She asked, wishing she did. "Why do I have this… this knot in my chest and it keeps telling me something isn't right here, and that we wouldn't be right, and that it just doesn't make sense like we both know… it should."

"Why isn't this enough for you?" He asked limply, no longer bothering to hide his face as it grew damp. He was already humiliated enough, there was no longer any point in conserving his dignity. "Why aren't I enough? I don't understand." A hardness was creeping into his voice, but May didn't register it.

"It's not about you being enough," May told him softly, her own tears coming thick and fast. "It's not about you at all."

"No," he agreed, jaggedly. "It's about Paul." May spluttered, taken back. "It's him, right? Paul. You've always been thinking of him."

"You don't know what you're talking about," she warned him with a quiet, yet deafening tremble.

"You love him, don't you?" Drew accused. May's face burned red, but not out of embarrassed heat or from being caught out.

"You don't have a _clue!_ " She suddenly split, yelling hoarsely. "You act like - like I'm some open book, and you know me so well, I'm so obvious and clear to you because it was meant to be you. You act like you're entitled to me and that I owe you this or something because you've spent these years belittling me - but, but you don't know a _thing_ about what I want, or what I need. You don't get to talk about me like that with such… finality and authority - you clearly don't know me at all!"

Drew stopped, pale. There was a glimmer of something in his eye that caught May off guard, and then his lips pressed together tight. He backed away from her slowly, like a wounded animal.

"No," May amended, suddenly overwhelmingly sad. "No, that wasn't fair of me, I…"

"No, you're right." Drew shrugged, not meeting her gaze. "I'm not entitled to you. I'm sorry I made you think I felt like that." His voice was devoid of any feeling at all, and it broke May in a way she hadn't expected.

"I shouldn't have said half of that," she hiccuped, moving towards him with a kind of determination she'd not felt towards him before. "You know me, you know me so well, Drew. And I - I care so much about you. So much. I can't describe how much, maybe, maybe I do love you, I just don't know what that really means right now, and I…"

"May stop," Drew asked her weakly, looking momentarily pained, but she shook her head, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face into his shoulder as she sobbed. "May, I'm not angry with you."

"Be angry with me!" She pleaded. "I deserve it. I've been so awful to you, and you only… you only wanted to take care of me, and I…" she broke down into messy, noisy wails into his shirt. They crumbled onto the sand together, holding each other like they were all they'd ever had.

"You don't love me, May." Drew said it so simply, and so dispassionately, that it severed any hope he'd carried on with him since Lilycove. "That's okay."

"I do - I do love you, Drew," she told him fiercely, gripping his shirt tightly. "I do, I swear I do…" She looked up to meet his bloodshot eyes with her own, her breathing erratic. "I'll try, I want to try…" she pressed her lips to his gently but he didn't respond, instead, he held his breath. She pulled back to break into another sob, but then swallowed it and tried again, kissing him harder, her eyes screwed up tight as she focused on him, and on them, and on who they were supposed to be.

"May," Drew chastised weakly, untangling her from him. "May, stop." She allowed herself to be pulled away from him, and she dropped into herself on the sand in front of him, as he curled his body away from her, suddenly retreating to a spot in his head she knew she'd never completely get him back from. "I'll be okay with it. I can live with you not being with me. I can live with you not… not letting me be there for you. But…" he hesitated.

May tried to ask him to continue, but words weren't functioning in her throat.

"For Arceus' sake, don't go sailing out into the sea to drown because you will die out there." His voice was quiet and even, and somehow that hurt more than if he'd been sobbing at her feet. "It's ridiculous to go surfing out into the unknown without a clue of how long you'd be out there with no real long-term plan or provisions, and no one there to help you when something goes wrong, because I can't go with you." He paused, fear flashing through his eyes for a moment before he remembered to suppress it. "I couldn't bear to watch you die out there. And I couldn't bear to know you'd died alone when I could have stopped you. So please. Don't do this."

"We can go to Alola," May offered, desperately. "We can go out there and try, once all this is over, when I find Manaphy, we can leave together."

"No, May," Drew attempted to offer her a reassuring, but weak smile. "That's not who you are. That's not how this is supposed to be."

There was a familiar shout and Drew turned his head. Ash was sprinting up the beach towards them, Pikachu leading the way, much faster footed than his companion. Drew turned to May with one last, watery plea.

"Don't surf out there May. There's a better way," he told her, his voice so low she almost couldn't hear over the crashing waves. "If nothing else… for me. Please." May noticed Ash too, at last, and somehow couldn't find it in herself to question it. Pikachu arrived first, but slowed to a halt a short way away, sensing the moods of the two trainers. His tail dipped between his legs, and his ears bowed low.

"Guys," Ash was breathless, skidding to a halt between them, not seeing the tears or the tension and only seeing the immediate danger. "Guys, Slateport is crawling with Team Aqua. No time to stop, we have to get out of here."

"Okay," May replied, not acknowledging Ash. She looked out over the sea, full of a longing she couldn't describe. Drew nodded at her in recognition, the tiny thanks which was the only thing he had the strength to give. "Let's go."

"It's time to go home," Ash said with a firmness that neither May nor Drew expected. They looked up at him, drained and weak. "We need to go to Petalburg. We can go and be safe."

* * *

Lilycove

* * *

Madison sat in her office, staring at a piece of paper in front of her on the desk. Her checklist.

Her office was impersonal and blank. She hadn't bothered to invest time in decorating it, she cared more about the work she was doing. Her desk was imposingly in the middle of the room so that when grunts came to be disciplined, she could have an air of threatening power about her as she moved around her room and around her workspace. There was a wardrobe door to the back which led to her disguise storage, which today was open wide as she'd rummaged through, finding the best covers for herself, Courtney, and all the grunts who would be attending the mission alongside them.

There was a single, fake plant in the corner. It had been a gift from Courtney, a rare joke about making her office more homely. There was a sofa next to the wall, where she often slept when she worked late.

Madison poured over her checklist again. Disguises. Pokemon. Gloves. Tracker. Medical supplies. Medication - shit, medication.

She scrambled for her desk draws, pulling out the top one, and finding an orange capsule filled with small white pills. She took out two, and a knife from the drawer. Carefully, precisely, she sliced one of the pills in half.

Courtney appeared, popping into the room from the transport panel that connected their offices. She was about to say, "time to go," but paused.

"Your dosage has gone up," she said, almost accusatory tones to her otherwise monotonous drawl.

"From 100g to 150g," Madison confirmed stiffly. "It's alright. It's just a pain because pills come in 100g dosages, and I need to cut them in half whenever I take a dose now."

"How often?" Courtney asked quietly.

"Twice a day," Madison told her softly. "Morning and evening."

"We need to get going," Courtney finally announced, glancing at Madison's checklist while she dry swallowed her pills. "Seems you've covered the basics. Do you know the exit plan?"

"By exit plan, do you mean, you running to find me and then we bail?" Madison scoffed. "Yeah, I got it."

"I mean the exit plan I emailed you last night," Courtney amended, her voice a little less firm than usual. Madison paused, glanced at her unsurely, but took out her laptop from under the desk and scrolled through to her email client. With a few clicks, she found an email from Courtney with no subject title or word content, but just a pdf file attached with Madison's medical information listed with some gentle editing. Madison blinked, confused. It was co-signed by three medical professionals, all outside of the organisation.

"What is this?" Madison demanded, but her voice gave out and was quiet.

"This is your line to the defence lawyers if you are caught." Courtney chanced another rare smile. "If you are caught, you were abused and expected to perform duties based on intimidation and threats to an… already vulnerable person."

"I was never vulnerable," Madison said hotly, but Courtney cut her off.

"The police don't know that." She shrugged, looking down. "You staying out of prison, out of trouble, that's part of my job now."

"Why have you done this?" Madison shook her head, disbelieving. "No one else has this. No one else gets this kind of security."

"Because you've been through enough," Courtney told her gently. "You shouldn't have to go to prison because you've acted on what's happened to you. I made my mind up after Mt Pyre. You don't go to prison. You stay safe. That's my final word on this. Now, let's get going."

"Okay," Madison said weakly, knowing she'd have more time to fight this after the mission. "We need to go. Let's go."


End file.
